30 Days of Thankfulness
Day 19: My Friend Hui
Hui and I met on an online writing group. When we found out we lived near each other, we started meeting at a local library to write once a month.
She already had an agent and a book in the works. It came out this September and is brilliant. Think Harold and the Purple Crayon but with calligraphy and Chinese characters.
Her book has received many positive reviews, including one from Kirkus, and she has author visitations at book stores and libraries booked solid for the next few months.
These are goals I hope to reach at some point, but I have a long way to go. And she still takes time to read my stories and give me feedback. She supplies me with comp titles whenever she comes across them to help me with my research.
When you have made it as a writer, with all the additional time-consuming responsibilities of making it, and you still take time to walk alongside someone who is on the proverbial futon of their writing career, I think that speaks volumes about your character as a person.
So today I want to take the time to plug this amazing book—a great Christmas present, wink wink, and to express my gratitude for my friend and all the other successful people out there who take the time to encourage people further back on the path.
What area of your life are you successful in or even considered an expert? Who is on the same path that you could reach out to mentor and support?
It will mean the world to them.
30 Days of Thankfulness
Day 20: Plants
I have never been known for having a green thumb. But during covid, while everyone else I knew was getting a pandemic puppy, I took a chance and got a pandemic plant.
I think it was my way of making things more
manageable. Here was this simple living thing that needed minimal attention to nurture and help flourish.
And it is still alive! It’s a succulent, so the odds were in my favor. But still, it gave me the confidence to get more plants.
I know you are not supposed to have favorites, but this one is mine. Her name is Elphaba and she is a Curly Sue. I didn’t even know a plant existed with leaves reminiscent of Shirley Temple’s hair.
On a tiny card stuck into her soil was a promise that she would reduce stress and symptoms of depression.
I thought it was a bold claim, but having greenery in the house has made me happier.
What household flora and/or fauna brings you joy?
30 Days of Thankfulness
Day 21: My Husband, Babysitters, and Regular Date Nights
My husband and I have date nights every other week.
In the thick of the fog of newbie parenting, when it was about surviving not thriving, he sat me down and said that he wanted to be intentional about spending time with me.
So we set out to find a babysitter (who I am also grateful for!!) that would feel comfortable hanging out with my son for a few hours.
Then we set the dates on our calendar, on repeat. So nothing gets accidentally scheduled over it.
These nights have been incredible blessings. They help me emotionally reset. They clear space for my husband and I to connect and talk without distractions. They bring us momentarily back to the time before Caleb (without the need of a flux capacitor).
What breaks do you build into your schedule that you are grateful for?
30 Days if Thankfulness
Day 22: Puddles
Too small to be a pond, but just deep enough to splash in and almost swallow my husband’s Hummer H3.
Nature’s bird baths—I know I am the only one, but I could sit for a minute watching birds hop around on their toothpick legs fluttering and spastically splashing themselves with water. Move over Netflix.
And every once in a while a reflection in one will make you pause to take a picture.
Saw this on my morning walk.
What simple thing in nature brings you joy?
30 Days of Thankfulness
Day 23: “Thanksgiving House”
My son calls this “Thanksgiving House”.
It is a fitting name. Every Thanksgiving since I can remember, this single story house has been stuffed with 50+ people with countless stories, shared over a feast.
Now my son’s earliest Thanksgiving memories are connected to this same place.
The place where my dad’s eight brothers and sisters, along with their families, are drawn to the string of makeshift tables set up in the railroad-style living room. We squeeze in, pray over the food, and lean in for the yearly photo that is nearly impossible to fit us all in.
Many hands mean every detail is taken care of—every favorite dish is accounted for and arranged, each person feels welcomed and loved.
At the end, the fixings for turkey sandwiches are covertly extracted amidst conspiratorial whispers and tupperwear procured from purses. (Even though everyone is in on the “secret” and nobody leaves empty-handed.)
This “Thanksgiving house” is a space where we look forward to connecting with each other and encouraging one another, where we fill each other with laughter and joy and celebrate one another.
When we leave, we carry that into the world, along with the legacy of my grandmother, who began this tradition that is still going strong.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
What is one thing you are thankful for today?
30 Days of Thankfulness
Day 24: An Introvert Recharge, a Family Brunch, and My Sister, the Family Photographer
Sorry, today I have three things. Gratitude just keeps multiplying.
Wednesday was a marathon, Thursday was social overload, so Thursday night I especially appreciated hanging in a hotel with just my boys.
I have had to explain to my extrovert husband that introverts, like me, can be outgoing at times and love being around people, but to recharge we need to retreat to our own space.
So he gets it now. And he takes very good care of me.
And because he knows and understands me, he knows and understands our kid, who is just like me.
So I am very grateful that we, but especially Caleb and I, had a chance at the hotel to have down time and recharge last night.
Caleb built an elaborate service area out of magnatiles and a home for his toy Santa.
I sat with my husband and watched A Christmas Carol like a zoned out zombie drinking harvest tea.
Which meant I arrived today refreshed for the family brunch my brother and sister-in-law hosted.
It was wonderful. Their house was beautifully decorated and the spread they had laid out would put a restaurant to shame. There were bagel, taylor ham, and egg sandwiches, waffles, pumpkin pancakes, pound cake, donuts, yogurt, fruit, a charcuterie board—if you eat it for breakfast, it was there and accounted for.
Thanksgiving can be overwhelming with so many people to chat with. It’s nice to have this time with a smaller sample set of family to catch up before we go our separate ways.
So I am also very thankful for Christina and Andrew (and my niece Willow—who is VERY good about sharing her toys) for starting this tradition and pivoting so quickly from Thanksgiving to gather, cook, and prep for us.
And thankful for my sister, our amazing photographer for all these events, for capturing these memories!
30 Days of Thankfulness
Day 25: Buried Treasure
This ornament was given to me in 4th grade during a secret santa gift exchange we did in school.
The person who gave it to me was one of the shyest kids in my class. He apologized as I unwrapped it, maybe thinking that it wasn’t a great gift.
But he was wrong. I quickly reassured him that I loved it.
And I have kept it for 36 years.
I have always had an affinity for homemade gifts. They have a certain gravity.
Last year I thought I lost it and I looked in every tiny box, every drawer, every nook and cranny of the house that I might stash ornaments.
Then, today, on our annual Caleb and Mommy Decorating Day, it materialized in the basement, buried under a stack of boxes.
I was elated. I had thought it was long gone, accidentally tossed away.
But it had survived.
I reglued its one eye. (The other eye has been missing for ages.) I fluffed him up a bit and added a new bow.
It may seem like a lot of trouble to go through for one ornament.
But gifts don’t have to be elaborate to be important.
For me, it’s about the memories attached. It reminds me of elementary school, friends, my teacher that year who was one of the best I ever had, and the excitement I had for Christmas at that age—the same age my son is now.
What is something you have kept for years that has special meaning to you?