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Category: The Thankfuls
It’s common practice on Facebook to list what you are thankful for during the month of November. Here’s a collection of my favorites from the years I participated.
For several years now, I have observed Lent by giving up Facebook. No doubt it is my #1 vice. It is a major timewaster. Sure, I keep up with my friends through it, but for the most part it’s just people I vaguely know sharing memes. Not that they aren’t funny, not that they don’t make me smile. But surely I could find something to make me smile elsewhere that didn’t entail me mindlessly scrolling for ten minutes every hour. Surely a friend could make me laugh through a text, phone call, or visit. Surely I can live without Facebook for the next forty days. After a few years of taking this break, it was no longer something I was sacrificing to show my faith. It was something I looked forward to. I wasn’t growing in my relationship with Christ, it was a social media vacation. I didn’t use the time to flip through my Bible, I used the time to read for pleasure. Or shop online. Or a million other things. So this year, I’m doing things a little different. This year I’m making it a real challenge. I’m giving up several things, and I’m incorporating my gift into blessing forty people. You don’t have to be Catholic to follow Lent. You don’t even have to be a Christian. It might lead you to a…
I got a little emotional the other day. Sometimes you have those moments where you just know you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. An epiphany, if you will. About a month ago, my friend Rhonda, the director of the library (don’t tell her I idolize her job just a little bit), called me up in the wee hours of the day. Obviously, she was trying to catch me while my guard was down so I would agree to her little plan. I hadn’t had my coffee. Something about a Seed Swap, that wasn’t on the National Holiday, but it was close enough, and could I say a little something about soil? Why sure because CLEARLY I’m qualified after seven months at a job. But I agreed because namely, it just sounds like a day we’d have snow. January 19th. When I went to write on my old school blotter, I discovered it was a Saturday. That sly wench! Nonetheless, I assembled 27 folders full of valuable literature, soil sample boxes and forms, several posters, and my ever-present blue board. I loaded up Maggie for my presentation. Presentation. Snort. We’ll see about that. I didn’t want to get in over my head, so I just printed some Fun Facts About Dirt off the NRCS website. Fortunately, she had me paired up with my good friend Jim from the City, and he…
It will rain today. I can say this with authority because I made a deal with God six years ago today. I asked him if it had to rain, could it just rain everywhere but at our venue, and then it was free to rain every year on our anniversary, as long as it didn’t rain on us today? And it didn’t. And it has. So it will rain today, I can guarantee you. Indeed it rained all around us on our wedding day: it rained on my carriage driver and horse on the way in, they had to pull over and tarp the carriage. It rained at my house. It rained within a half of mile of us all afternoon. But not a drop fell from the sky at the Historic Ramsey Plantation. Sweat drops and tear drops were in abundance, I will say. Wednesday, I had the pleasure of leaving the office and visiting a farm of one of my old Co-op customers. He happens to be one that I bought a quarter of a cow from a few years ago. He has a gorgeous place; his house sets on top of the hill, overlooking his spread. We met with him and his wife on the front porch, and settled ourselves on the cushioned swings. There was enough breeze to keep me from sweating a drop, even with my hair down. It was the perfect day to be on a call. I knew…
I used to wonder who would come to my funeral. I’ve attended many, many funerals myself, and wondered who would return the respect when it came time. I was born an only child, and have remained that way for 39 years. I think it prepared me in many ways for the life I was destined to live. I never recall being lonely. I suppose I would call myself self-motivated, because if I wanted to do something, I did it myself. I vacationed alone before getting married, because I wanted to see places, and I wanted to see certain things in those places, so I didn’t want to be encumbered by someone who didn’t. Still, to this day, if I want to dine in a certain restaurant, or watch a particular movie, I’ll just go and do it alone if I know it’s something Shug or my assorted friends aren’t interested in, or have the time to go and do. My very good friend Megan and I founded an “Environmental Club” around fifth grade or so to raise awareness about the effects of Champion Papermill’s pollution into our local water sources. We sent a petition and collected water samples and the whole nine yards. Bookish would be a polite way of saying I was a nerd, but nerd fits the bill accurately. I stayed out of trouble through my younger years, never “smoked…
What is with all the hate of 2017? All these people kicking it to the curb! Shoot, it ain’t nothing to do with the year. It’s just…shit happens. I don’t think January 1st is going to bring some great light shining on you pointing the way to happiness and dreams fulfilled. New Years isn’t magical. You’ve got to stick it out, suck it up, and go out searching for the next big thing. We can’t have everything we want! I would have liked to have seen the Vols play for the SEC Championship. I would also have liked to seen a size 8 again, but I’m not willing to give up my sedentary lifestyle or vast amounts of cupcakes I consume. I would like certain people to live for a good long time and others can drop–well. You get my point. I’m not much for resolutions. I fail at every turn, why would I subject myself to more misery? One year I said I wanted to stop gossiping. We all know how that worked out. One year I wanted to keep a journal. Um. One year I wanted to lose weight. Bahahahahahhaahahaahaha!!!!! But you know, this year, I’m going to change a few things. I have to buy less, because I’m going to have to make a major purchase in…
Have you ever just taken a moment and thought about how fortunate you are? One of those times where the North Star is beaming down directly on you and everyone around smiles your way and for a little while everything seems right in your world? Well, tonight I had such an epiphany. I don’t write about my new work often, partly because there’s not much to write about; I rarely have much interaction with customers. But also I don’t write because I like my job and don’t want to jinx myself. And I guess calling it new after a year and a half is ridiculous, but it’s hard to not think of it that way. When I came onboard, I was unsure. I was scared as a rabbit looking at a pack of coyotes. I didn’t know anybody, I was in a part of town I didn’t frequent, and I was out of my comfort zone working in an office environment. But I didn’t quit, even though I wanted to. I came back every day because I’d made my mind up to, and because it felt like it would be a good gig if I could ever get used to it. I was terrified of the guys, they were all big and kinda scary looking with their tattoos, cigarettes, beards, and low, gravelly voices. They drove trucks that always needed…
I would like to poll all the retail people working tonight. I wonder what percentage of them don’t mind being there as opposed to ones who would rather have the day off. Plenty of people work holidays. Surgeons, nurses, policemen, paramedics, firemen, soldiers. Dispatchers. These people actually make a difference. They are the ones who are there for the “big deals” in life, not the “big deals” in possessions. So when they sign on the dotted line, they know that they are making a commitment to be there for someone else. Even though their family would like to have them safe & sound at home, someone else NEEDS them. So they go. They leave what’s important to them & go to work & maybe save a life. I would also like to poll the shoppers tonight. I would ask if they have ever been forced to work on Thanksgiving. I’m just curious. Because it seems like if you’ve ever had to work one– or someone close to you–, you wouldn’t wish it on anyone else. And you wouldn’t support it. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I don’t understand how important it is to get your child a game that’s selling for $50 bucks off tonight only. A game that your child will undoubtedly tire of by February. And maybe that child would…
I’ve been waiting for the perfect day for this one. I am thankful for J. He is so wonderful 🙂 I don’t know how I made it so long without him. He is extremely funny, sometimes so much so that he catches me unaware. He is strong, he performs all the chores that I beg off with the excuse: “I’m a girl…” (i.e. cleaning out gutters, mowing the yard, grilling, landscaping…I’m gonna stop before y’all get some hare-brained idea that I’m lazy 😉 ). He is intelligent, he can carry on a conversation with just about anybody about anything. I don’t have to worry about bringing him to a co-op function-or a political fundraiser, or dinner with people he’s never met, or high school reunion- and having to entertain him, he’s got it. And he looks good doin’ it 😉 He loves animals, I’m sure all of you know about the groundhogs at the Johnson Plantation. He gets along great with my family–better than me, most of the time! Its disgusting!!! 😉 He’s a hard worker, I’ve never known him to miss a day of work. He may complain about the perils of being an electrician, but I know he’s a company man after seeing him work from six in the morning till ten at night (for…
I could be thankful for a whole host of things today: Sundays off, good books, leftover pot roast & grilled cheese dinner, my cozy monogrammed blanket…but I’m gonna be thankful I’m not Bear Grylls’ wife. Have you ever watched his show? He is a MANIAC. He eats SCORPIONS. RAW. And rolls around in mud for wildfire protection. And kills rattlesnakes with a stick. And makes rafts from oil barrels & ancient Styrofoam. And sleeps suspended in discarded fishing nets high in the trees. And that’s not all. That’s barely the tip of the iceberg…or should I say glacier……
The last day of thankfulness. I’d say several of you are thankful its over, although I tend to stay long winded throughout the year, not just November 🙂 I reckon I better be thankful for the Good Lord today. Most people who participate in this are thankful for Him on the very first day, & that’s good, but I wasn’t. I don’t remember why, or even what I was thankful for that day, but I am thankful for Him every day. He is the reason I can be thankful for everything else. But for the non-believers out there, shoving religion down their throats every day is not the way to get them saved. I don’t think so, anyway, and I’m speaking from experience. Just like anything else, you have to want it. I want to help you want it. I am thankful for Jesus dying for this sinner right here. I should show it more. Also thankful for my Facebook friends who read my posts & enjoy them. I pride myself on knowing every single one of you. And if you’ve made it this far, I must really like you a lot because I’ve weeded out pretty much all the people who feel the need to argue with me on every post whether it be about pimento cheese or padded walking horses (yes, seriously. Same person) & the virtual stalkers. I am…
