Having lived a number of years in a low income housing project gave me a good sense of what poverty feels like. Having my home and almost all my possession taken from me gave me a good idea of impermanence. Having the love of my life senselessly ripped from me gave me a hard lesson in loneliness. And so I am acutely aware of how blessed I am now. I live an incredibly abundant life filled with the love of family and friends. I have a deep and spiritual appreciation for the good things in my life. I take none of it for granted. I love giving thanks.
And then occasionally I accept the thanks of others -
First, we received this in the mail.
Included was a thank you card from Beanie’s college friends who had recently spent a weekend with us. It said “thank you for letting us crash at your house, eat all of your food, for doing our laundry and for giving us Beanie. We love her and you.” The basket is filled with cookies and brownies.
On Thanksgiving, Martha’s nephew gave us several gift cards to our favorite restaurant to thank us for some help we gave him years ago. He is finally on his feet.
Oh yes, if you want to thank me for something - says it with food.
And then yesterday I drove Beanie back to college. We lugged up all her now clean clothes she had brought home for me to wash. And all the groceries we bought because, you know, that $12,000 room and board fee doesn’t seem to provide enough food for her to eat. We said our final goodbyes and when I returned to the car I found this on the seat:
Yep, that did me in.
I love Thanksgiving. And receiving thanks isn’t too bad either.
What a good kid you have raised. I'm sorry I missed seeing her this time.
ReplyDeleteI would say "thank you" to you, but I think I'll just send chocolate.
When you have experienced such deep losses it is a blessing to still appreciate the goodness of life without feeling bitter.
ReplyDeleteTake none of it for granted.
Words to live by.
"And all the $" made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to hop on board with all those other very wise people and tell you how thankful I am for you.
I love the ps. What a great kid.
ReplyDeleteParaphrasing here: She who has never tasted the bitter does not understand the sweet. I'm not sure who said that (or something like it) but you understand it better than so many.
xoxo