by Cathy Anderson Corn
Thanksgiving's nearly here and we all know it's about more than just fixing and consuming a gargantuan meal, cleaning the house, distributing leftovers, and watching football on t.v. It's about giving thanks for our blessings and for the bounty we enjoy.
And, as some current authors note, the more grateful you are, the more bounty that flows in. So in that vein of thought, I'm listing the top ten reasons I'm thankful this season:
10. I don't have to cook. Last year we had both our families to the house, and we cleaned and cooked for weeks in preparation. This year it'll be the two of us and pets; we'll maybe watch a movie and eat pop tarts. Okay, we're having Hanukah here, but a bagel dinner is much easier to fix than a turkey dinner.
9. I survived in good humor the Pennwriters Conference of May 2007. It was fun, with great information and smiling Sister and Mister faces. I won't mention a fresh-faced 23-year-old agent from a big agency who shot my novel pages (and everyone else's) down, but he was cute, and in some strange way I'm thankful he didn't want my work of art (okay, I'm lying).
8. My deepest and most humble thanks (my senior dog, Gypsy, barks in gratitude, too) to the manufacturers of Leaks No More, a remedy that...well, you can figure it out.
7. I live in a wonderful country, the land of opportunity, with the freedom to choose turkey or tofurkey for the holidays. People here are dedicated and hard working, and I thank one and all for their endeavors to promote peace and enlightenment for all.
6. I love the internet--looking up stuff fast, keeping in touch with emails, and ordering items I didn't know I needed.
5. I'm thankful for my family. This includes my parents, whose health has been on a teeter totter the past few years. They still hang in there, and I'm glad. I'm grateful for our cat companions Geebles and Missy, and their dog sister, Gypsy, for my Emily and husband Jason, as well as the stepchildren and the granddaughter to be born in March, little baby Corn (that makes Alan the Pop Corn).
4. Extreme gratitude for my massage career--a chance to serve others, earn a living, keep my hands from drying out in the winter (the oil keeps them moist), and much more. Many thanks for healing promoted and received and the years of being close to others.
3. Someday, my agent and editor will come (sung to the tune of "Someday My Prince Will Come").
2. My prince did come. See, this stuff works. As you already know, Alan and I wed at Kukui Heiau on Kauai, Hawaii, on February 8, 2007. They lived happily ever after.
1. The number one reason I'm thankful this Thanksgiving: For my fellow blogmates, great blogs of yore, hours of entertainment and fascinating topics and comments. (This is where I stand up with pompoms and cheer.) You're all great!
So anyone care to share an item or two from your gratitude list? And pass the cranberry sauce, please.
Have a great holiday.
8 comments:
In a year where I truly have much to be grateful for, one thing in particular stands out. After 2 and a half years, my landlord finally fixed the drip from the gutter that landed on the second-to-top step leading to my private practice office.
Not only was the drip an accident waiting to happen (a fact one would think the landlord, as an insurance agent, would realize) but this accomplishment also demonstrated the power of a technique called, "pleasant persistence" (or pee pee) I teach clients and trainees.
Do you think I should write a book about it?
Just by way of further clarification, the drip was not a problem during the summer. During the winter, however, it would freeze into that thin, slippery ice that is almost impossible to hack off or melt with salt.
Ah, Cathy, you've hit on one of my favorite topics: gratitude. Does anybody remember (and did anybody read) the book SIMPLE ABUNDANCE that was out a few years back? The author advocated keeping a gratitude journal and I did for several years. I've recently been thinking of starting one again.
In a year that has brought great loss and heartache to me and my family, I still have much to be grateful for: my cousin's miraculous recovery (okay, that's a cliche, but in her case, it's nothing short of the truth), my mom's slow but steady progress following those nasty surgeries, my wonderful hubby who supports me in all my wackiness, the opportunity to teach yoga and especially, the chance to write (and on rare occasions, get paid for it). But above all, I am grateful for all my dear writing friends and readers.
Well, now I have absolutely nothing left to blog about next Wednesday!
Great blog, Cathy!
I have a lot to be thankful for, too. A great husband, two perfect kids, a job that I don't hate, a nice cozy house, an agent who WILL eventually get me that book deal, enough money to not have to worry where the next meal is coming from...I could keep going, but that's enough for now.
Tory,
I'm very grateful your accident waiting to happen got fixed. I once worked night shift at Passavant Hospital and my boss wouldn't take me off it. I was pleasantly persistent for nearly a year, and when I finally pleasantly threatened (and meant it) to resign, the problem was fixed. But otherwise, that technique has been great for me--put me in the book. Pleasant is always so much nicer than nasty.
Annette,
I don't remember that book, but have heard the journal advice repeatedly. Your heart is in the right place to still focus on the positive and feel gratitude after your rocky year. Keep up the great work.
Joyce,
And abundant comments on your blogs, too!
Cathy, I am grateful that I read your blog today. I had never heard the word "tofurkey." I hate to think I'd go the rest of my life without that in my vocabulary.
Congratulations to your husband on wedding his Princess this year. Royalty goes both ways, you know!
Ramona,
You're so sweet. Come on over for tofurky.
Pop-tarts and a movie sounds like an ideal Thanksgiving. Consider me jealous!
Post a Comment