“Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude” AA Milne
Gratitude, according to my Compact Macquarie Dictionary, is the quality of feeling or being grateful or thankful. It is also a word which seems to be used more and more frequently. Being grateful appears to be a trend. There are downloadable gratitude journals and diaries – I even have a gratitude app on my phone. I used it diligently for the first week or so and then lost interest. However, life lately threw a few curve balls which prompted me to ponder on everything I am grateful for. I’m a list maker, so here is a very short list of the main things I am grateful for:
- I’m grateful for having been born. This might seem a no brainer, but my birth was never a given. A few years before he died my father admitted I was a mistake. He had never wanted children and, despite my mother’s protestations, had forced her to agree. Luckily for me the only birth control they practiced was the rhythm method.
- I’m grateful for my parents. This might seem strange for those of you who know how much I have complained about them. But if I hadn’t have had the parents I did, I never would have become the mother I am as I tried very hard not to make the same mistakes they did.
- I’m grateful for my three sons. I really couldn’t have asked for any better children. Of course they all had their moments and there were times I would have happily thrown them into the woods with nothing but breadcrumbs… but in the end they have become wonderful young men, who I love dearly.
- I’m grateful for my friends. There is no way I would have survived life without my friends. Not every friend has been with me from the beginning, in fact the friends I made in kindergarten and the first years of school have faded into the mists of time. But I do still have friends I made at school, which is pretty amazing when you consider I finished school thirty-nine years ago. Those friends and those I’ve made along my journey are all pretty awesome. Friends are not necessarily in our lives forever. Like the ocean, they ebb and flow through your life. I’ve always noticed the friends I need always seem to be there right when I need them. And I hope I’m always there when they need me.
- I’m grateful for my life. All in all, I have had a pretty easy life. Of course it has had its moments, a life would be pretty dull if it was constantly smooth and pretty. But those moments were reasonably small and insignificant if you hold them up in comparison to other people. First world problems. I just have to watch the news to know how well off I am. I have a roof over my head, food on the table and a job to pay the bills. I might not be joyful every moment of my life, but I also have the ability to make decisions and change the path I’m on. Which is more than many other people have.
