THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR

                       

I’m thankful for my good health. Oh, I have the few little things that come with age, but overall I’m in good health. My knees and feet aren’t exactly what they were ten years ago, but they get me where I want to go. Except for once in a while having to search for a word I want, my mind hasn’t deteriorated. At least I don’t think so. Some might not believe that.

 

Several days before  Christmas at my house.

I’m thankful for my family.  I’ve lost some through death over the years, including a son, granddaughter, a brother, my parents, many aunts and uncles and some cousins, too. But I still have three children, their spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, my siblings, two of their spouses. And I still have two aunts, two uncle and numerous cousins. Family is one of the richest blessings I could have.

Three members of my Red Read Robin book club at my house.

I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made over the years through teaching, book clubs, conferences, writing groups – both in person and online, and especially through Writers Who Kill. These friends mean a lot to me because we share the same interests; books and writing and often other mutual interests, too.

On the way to my back door.

I'm thankful for my home. It's old and not very large. Its floors creak and things in my living room shake a little when larger people walk across the floor or my dog bounds across it chasing a toy.The basement leaks during heavy rains and it's almost impossible to keep all the spider webs from forming, but the house is mine. I chose to buy it, and with my son's help it's been renovated into a comfortable home with a library. It's decorated with plants, books, pictures and things I've accumulated over the years that mean something to me.

Maggie with my two ponies near the pond.

I’m thankful for my small farm of about twelve acres. The old barn with hand hewn beams got a new roof soon after I moved in. It is home to my two ponies, seven hens, an old guinea fowl, who prowls the place as a watch bird, and currently one barn cat. My farm has numerous gardens I’ve planted and weeded – more or less. It has large pine and spruce trees around the house protecting it from winter winds and shading it in the summer keeping it cool so with fans I rarely need to use an air-conditioner.  I have a little goldfish pool near the house and a large pond beyond my house, and apple and pear trees and a blueberry patch.

I’m thankful for my woods I walk in almost every morning with my dog.  It’s a place for meditation, for coming up with ideas for poems, stories or my books. It’s a place where I see or hear things to interest me on every walk: a squirrel, a pileated woodpecker, fresh spring flowers or unusual fungi, turkeys, deer or even a bear I heard last summer for the first time.

I’m thankful that I have enough, but not too much money to live on. Yes, I have to be careful what I spend and sometimes I wish I had enough to help those in need with large amounts of money, but money could be a burden, too. Right now I don’t worry about anyone breaking in. Who would want to steal books? I have no expensive jewelry or anything worth a thief breaking in to steal.

I’m thankful I have enough food to eat, a warm house, a car that runs and a comfortable bed when there are so many without those simple pleasures.

I’m thankful for Mobile Meals. It gives me a sense of purpose other than my own pleasure, and also enriches me in both working with the volunteers who prepare, pack or deliver the meals. Even more I’m enriched by my contact with the people who receive them. I’ve come to dearly love many of those I deliver to, and am saddened when they disappear from my route either because of moving to a nursing home or through death.

I’m thankful for the parents, who gave me the important values in life; compassion, caring for others, a belief in social justice, honesty, faith, a sense of humor, an enjoyment of music, and a love of reading and learning.

I’m thankful that this Thanksgiving I’ll again be having a most delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s house with siblings and assorted nieces and nephews. It will not only include a scrumptious meal with everyone contributing some dish or other, it will be filled with laughter, joking and some memories of the past. But I’m also feeling a sadness for those forced to work this day in the big box stores who are moving Black Friday up to Thanksgiving Day. I wonder if those who made the decision will be working Thanksgiving, too. I doubt it.

What are you thankful for?  How will you be spending Thanksgiving?