I reserve my giving of thanks for New Year’s Eve when I empty my memory jar on the carpet and spread the scraps of folded paper out before me. I unfold each note and carefully read and remember the moment that prompted it before tossing it on the fire to burn it into my mind.
As only social media can, the most profound statement to come across my news lately was on Facebook and said this, “Black Friday: because only in America people trample each other for sales, exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have…”
Turning that cynical cheek aside. I thought about what I would give thanks for, without the help of my jar of scribbled notes. I came up with my top 10:
10. I am thankful that despite having no insurance and taking risks with my health and physical well-being I am stronger and emotionally more stable than I can remember feeling in the recent past.
9. For all that I complain about finances. I am managing to stay afloat.
8. While my social circle is small, it fills my need for friendship, support, company and solitude.
7. The “systems” that support my lifestyle – heat, food, water and Internet – are relatively stable. Yes, the land-line phone has been on the blink for a month and the refrigerator makes a disconcerting clunk too often, but those don’t count. The garage door opens on command and the lights flick on.
6. I have not lost a companion in over twelve months. My pet supply, though aged, is hanging in with me.
5. I have a wonderful group of kindred souls to greet every day at work, who smile and wish me well.
4. I once married a man who gave me two beautiful daughters and a love for good cooking. I am thankful for the lessons the four of us have learned so far.
3. I am grateful for bees and hospice, two things in my life that ground me and teach me humility.
2. I am also humbled my blog was recognized this year by WordPress with a Freshly Pressed award and that people pay attention to my effort in writing down the instructions I stumble across in living life.
1. I am here…
Thank you all…
Therapeutic Misadventures 
Have a happy Thanksgiving Martha!
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And to you as well Allen! Just got power back from our storm, lovely to behold from inside the house, next to a raging fire…
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Awesome list! And amazing idea with the jar. Have an awesome Thanksgiving!
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Thank you! So kind of you to read and comment.
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Always loved your jar ritual. Do you use it for any of your blog ideas after the first of the year? So creative. You are one of the things I am thankful for.. 40 odd years and counting….
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Ah, you are right about our friendship being one of the things I am most thankful for in this life…
Sometimes I do steal ideas from my memory jar!
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Wonderful list of things to be thankful for. I’m thankful for our friendship! Glad you have power back!
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Your friendship is a gift. Green with envy that you aren’t here but glad you are with your dad!
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We have an American minister, actually called Martha as well, and she held thanksgiving for the first time with us..it was lovely, we all googled recipes and brought in pot luck and then thought of two serious thanks and one not so serious. My serious and they decided not so serious, was toilets!! I think I am going to get a toilet twin as a main Christmas present for everyone this year!! Only when you’ve been abroad do you really appreciate home ones!! Happy Thanksgiving!
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What, pray tell, is a toilet twin???
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😀 Doesn’t the imagination go wild? Just as you can do town twinning you can do toilet twinning! So you pledge an amount of money through a charity eg OXfam, Christian Aid, UNICEF or google toilet twinning etc and they “buy” a toilet with that donation. You are then sent the location and learn a little about the area and people! You get a little poster that you can stick up at your own loo, whether at work, church or home!! It’s a blog in its own right!! These days they can even do google earth and you can see the area…but that’s a little too detailed me thinks!!
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I love your jar, such a best idea. As Richard Bach, one of my favourite authors, once said, the best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.
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Thanks Marie. The jar reminds me to look for the little, happy moments. The fuller it gets the more I know I am paying attention to the details.
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