this is a page for
Browsing Tag: #bekind
ChiA colleague of mine recently lost his mother. I don’t mean that she cannot be found, of course. This evening was the first time I’ve seen him & of course I expressed my condolences. I simply said, “I’m sorry about your mother.” He thanked me, & since we were still standing there awkwardly, I additionally offered, “That sucks.” A smile. “Yes, it does. And I appreciate your saying so.” He paused. “I had wondered what you were supposed to say to someone who lost their mother? I didn’t know, I still don’t. What CAN you say? But that sums it up sufficiently. It DOES suck.” He went on to say no one had said this to him yet (leave it to me) but it was an accurate assessment. So, let this be a lesson to y’all. It may not be the most eloquent phrase that ever comes out of your mouth, but if it is heartfelt & sincere, it will be appreciated, perhaps more than you know. Just speak the truth. Always & for any situation. The truth is always the right thing to say…
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……
Alright. This one’s personal, y’all. Today I am thankful for my momma, my grandmother, and University of Tennessee football. If that sounds like a strange combination, you must have missed my status a couple of weeks ago. This is my Grandmother’s grave today. She’s been gone just over five years. I am constantly reminded of her. She LOVED football. I mean, she loved it like a man does (no offense ladies, but you know what I mean). Every time I watch a ballgame I think of her hollerin’ & being on the edge of the couch when it was 3rd down for the opposing team: “Hold ’em boys, hold ’em…” Yes, that’s a football on her headstone. Underneath, it says “Go Vols!” I’m not even kidding. I’m thankful mom takes care of her grave because Lord knows I can’t. I’d be crying & snotting so hard the funeral directors would have to drive me home. I’m thankful these women taught me how to understand the game, & how to be a good sport. And today is a great example of “I’m for Tennessee & whoever’s playin’ Florida.” True story. Go Dawgs. And GO VOLS…
Oooh! Thirty Days of Thankfullness is here again 🙂 I know some of you don’t particularly care for it, but I much prefer opening my facebook to find my status feed full of blessings & pleasant thoughts. So here I go. Thankful today that I live in East Tennessee. It is truly beautiful this time of year. (Actually, I find it beautiful most of the year) It was a brilliant day, with sunshine so bright it hurt my eyes & made me squint. The leaves are absolutely gorgeous, & the temperature is just right. We have fresh, drinkable, clean water all around us. We are close enough to the most-visited national park in the states to visit it as often as we want. Although the tourists are a pain, they do make Sevier County one of the more fortunate & funded counties around. I’m thankful that people in this area are not ashamed to ask for prayer for themselves, their family, or a complete stranger if they need it. I’m thankful for chickens crowing, frogs croaking, & locusts buzzing in the late afternoons. I’m thankful for porch swings to drink sweet tea on, a hometown small enough that I still run into people I know at the grocery store, & high school football games & plays that everyone still attend. I don’t even mind getting behind tractors occasionally, because farmers mean food. (And I love food.) I’m proud…
This was one of those turnaround posts. One that people loved and shared and complimented me on for days after. And made me consider getting serious about my writing. Today I’m thankful I live in the south. Can y’all even imagine me in Yankeeland? I’m thankful for the flowering dogwoods, magnolias, and crepe myrtles. I’m thankful for the summer days where it’s too hot to even swim, {forget about getting married 😉}I’m thankful for the accents that use every letter in the word. I’m thankful that most people still have enough manners to hold a door open or let you in front of them in line if you’ve only got an item or two. I’m thankful that we have people willing to keep history alive by re-creating the War of Northern Aggression. I’m thankful for the music of cicadas in the late evenings. I’m thankful for all the little festivals celebrating bar-be-que, apples, & catfish. I’m thankful for fried food, sweet tea, cornbread, and beans. I’m thankful that we’ve captured the hearts of everyone who passes through. I’m thankful that we have a church on every corner. I’m thankful for days spent fishing for trout on the foggy Clinch river, hiking and tripping over the mountains in the Great Smokies, & going even further…
Day three: Thankful that I have a fun place to work (most days). Thankful for the fudge lady who bakes awesome cinnamon raison bread. Thankful that I know most of the clientele and they are friendly and care enough to ask how I’m doin’, how Johnny’s doin’, how Crockett’s doin’, and how my momma’s doin’ 🙂 Some even bring me oreos! Thankful that most of my co-workers are more like family than fellow inmates. Thankful that when I’m sad, they cheer me up, when I’m tired, they bury me with even more work to push me over the edge, and when I’m angry, they pick on me till I’m over it or stomp off even madder. Thankful we have the prettiest Co-op in the state & people always tell us so. That being said, I am also thankful that renovation is over…
I participated in the challenge on Facebook for a couple of years until the griping got to me. Granted, most people weren’t very creative, but give me a break. It was nice to see people being grateful. Alright, 30 Days of Thankfulness are here again. I challenge you, facebook friends, to do the same. Its much nicer than reading all the down-and-out posts that have become so commonplace. These will be in no order of importance, just whatever comes to mind on a particular day. There is no limit on how many things you can be thankful for 😉 So, today, November 1st, I’m thankful for my momma. Because she did something for me from day one that has influenced me every day since: she read to me while she was pregnant. Not only that, she took me on countless trips to the library after I learned to read myself. Seymour’s first very modest library was located in our bank’s parking lot in a camper & I remember making a couple of trips there a week. You could only checkout like, five books at a time & I was blowing through them. Soon, even the Sevierville library didn’t have any I hadn’t read. I still love to read and spend a few hours every day buried in one book or another. Luckily, Johnny understands. He saw straight-away there was no hope for prying me away…
