54 Thanks

Grateful vs. thankful.

I think grateful is a whimpy word. Seems to me when someone says he/she is "grateful" for something, he/she doesn't really mean it. It sounds like he/she hasn't really made up his/her mind, or he/she is just saying it for show. Grateful feels superficial, an act with very short roots.

But thankful is stronger.  Real.

After all, we don't wish each other "Happy Grategiving," do we?

I was thinking today, on this gray cold pre-Thanksgiving afternoon, about what there is to be thankful for in this world.

Came up with a list of 54, in no particular order:

1) Laughing
2) Two eyes that see
3) Two ears that hear
4) Two strong arms
5) Two legs able to help one walkabout
6) Brain that still works
7) Two Black Labs digging for moles in the yard
8) Small blue mighty egg-shaped car
9) Horses that run
10) Living in green woods
11) Mountains to climb
12) Ocean to hear
13) Water to remember
14) Silence to hold
15) Ability to still help someone 'cause I want to
16) Blank sheet of paper
17) Sharpened pencil
18) Honest friends. You know who you are. And I love you.
19) Clan, in all their glorious goodness and foibles. What stories.
20) History and myth
21) Good n' Plentys
22) Being a student of life
23) Drawing by Emma
24) Smile from Pete
25) Good book to read
26) Something new to test
27) Somewhere unknown to go
28) Freshly-stringed tuned guitar
29) Very dry red wine in a beautiful glass
30) Oatmeal raisin cookies
31) Tulips
32) Silence that snow brings
33) Enough money to live simply, doing something I like to do
34) Living beyond the age of 50
35) New and old music: to make and hear
36) Loyalty
37) Beauty, not prettiness
38) Coffee
39) Smart tall funny man
40) Camera
41) Writing
42) Circles
43) Clapton, Knopfler, Segovia, Nat King Cole, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell
44) Road trips
45) Maturity to still be goofy
46) Heart to still be accepting
47) Knowing there is something out there much bigger than I can ever imagine
48) Being challenged
49) Knowing when to back off
50) Knowing when to fully embrace
51) Creating
52) No beets
53) No spidahs
54) No chocolate-covered marshmallows

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll.

Comments

[Dave Mankin]

I'm so grateful for you putting this list together... no, really... truly grateful... honestly, I mean it... I think... at least for now...

[Dave Mankin]

... Happy Thanksgiving, Mary - I am thankful for my really cool sis-in-law. I'm double blessed having you as a friend too!

Daveeeeeeeeee