What A Difference A Morning Makes

I woke up this morning a little bummed about having to go to work today... after all, I've gotten to enjoy having three day weekends, especially since my husband has Mondays off, and I don't see nearly as much of him as I'd like.

I got ready to drive into the office; weighing myself down with purse, lunch, presents I am shipping out today, before remembering that, with this being winter, that I would need my jacket as well.

I reached into the closet, pulled it from its hanger and managed to toss it over one shoulder without dropping my load. I had my usual struggle with locking the door behind me and then walked out to my car, mentally ticking off the items I had in my arms and wondering if I had forgotten anything.

The light seemed dark for this time of day, as, by now, the sun should have been peeking its golden head out over the peaks and spreading the valley with its glow. I looked up at the sky and noticed the clouds hanging overhead, obscuring the nearby mountaintops. Thick foggy tendrils were creeping along the ribs of the mountains, like locks of Medusa's hair, slow and sluggish on this winter morn.

I pulled out and made my way into the office, marveling at how the world looked, wrapped in layers of pearly gray and pale blue. The wet pavement, like a mirror, reflecting the colors back to a sky draped in the colors of rain.

I don't know what it is about days like today that just thrill me to the core. Somehow the promise of pending rain always makes me feel clean... renewed... comforted. As if someone has wrapped me in a downy thick comforter of warm woolens and soft goose feathers.

And so I am thankful for today, and for all of the mornings like today that I can look forward to in this life. Its knowing days like this exist that make the days of darkness seem easier to tackle.

Thank you Heavenly Father, for creating such beauty and comfort in even the simplest of things.

Happy Thanksgiving

Gratitude.....

Thanks to Leah, who asked if I was going to be posting more of these gratitude posts... with all that has been going on lately I had put these on hold, but it was nice to know that she enjoys reading them as much as I like posting them.

So, for today, my gratitude is for friends and family. I have an amazing support system in my life that I probably take for granted more often than I should. Knowing that if I just need a hug, all I have to do is show up at my friend's house and she'll have one waiting for me. If I need advice or information, I have siblings and parents that are only a phone call or instant message away. If I need a positive lift, all I have to do is turn to my future spouse and he is there with love and words of comfort and acceptance.

What a wonderful group I belong to....and I am eternally grateful to have each and every one of them in my life.

Words of Wisdom . . .

I've been thinking about my grandmother a lot lately. She's been gone for a few years now, but I still feel her very much as a presence in my life. They say that a person never really dies, that a part of them still lives on in everyone's lives that they touched.

I like that...

But the thinking I've been doing lately isn't so much about how she's gone, but about the things that she has taught me....one thing, in particular, has been very much front-and-center in my mind lately.

My grandmother was the type of person who could figure out how she was related to just about anyone she came into contact with. A phone call to an operator in another state turned into an hour plus phone call figuring out this little gal was a second cousin through aunt so-and-so's side of the family.

Seriously.

She loved to sit and "people watch" but, even more, she loved to meet new people. I don't know where that courage came from but that woman would approach pretty much anyone who would hold still long enough for her to strike up a conversation. Complete strangers left her feeling as if they had made a new friend....and they had.

We were out to lunch and getting ready to leave when she stopped to compliment a lady on how lovely her silver hair looked (and it was done up nicely, I admit it, but I wouldn't have stopped to tell her so) They struck up a good fifteen minute conversation over this, that and the other before we finally made our way to the car.

Another time we were walking through a bargain basement store (grandma loved her bargains and "treasure finding" in out-of-the-way spots and yard sales). We passed a young lady walking around through the aisles, singing quietly along with the music piped in through the store speakers. After a few minutes of this, grandma approached this surprised little gal in order to tell her just how beautiful her voice was. Another good 5-10 minutes of conversation continued before we all wandered off again in our own little "treasure hunts"...but I noticed that gal still smiling, even as she paid for her purchases and headed out the door...a smile when she hadn't worn one before grandma's compliment.

It was at this time I asked my grandmother and asked her how was it she always stopped to talk to complete strangers out of the blue....I wasn't upset, just curious....goodness knows I didn't have that kind of courage, and I wanted to know where in the world she mustered hers from.

She told me that once she thought something complimentary about another person that it no longer belonged to her, but rather to the person that she had thought it of.... and she was always sure to give that compliment to its proper owner.

She was the sweetest person I ever knew and always tried to leave the people she met a little happier than how she'd found them.

I don't approach strangers as much as she did....I am still far too self-conscious for that....but I do go out of my way to compliment people whenever I can garner up that courage. Trust me, I still have a long way to go...but then, is it fair for me to grudgingly hold onto someone else's property? At least, that's the argument I use whenever I try to screw up the courage to approach someone when I am hesitant.

I get some funny looks sometimes, but, more often than not, people stop, smile, and thank me for noticing something that maybe they had not.

Its amazing how something that requires no real cost, no ribbons or bows, can still brighten up someones day.

Thank you grandmababy, for being such a wonderful role model for me to try to follow.