Thursday, December 25, 2014

Thanks & Gratitude: #reverb14 Day 25

What are you so grateful for?  How did you count your blessings in 2014? 


I've written gratitude lists off and on for a few years now. I know that one of the ways to pull myself out of a downward spiral is to step back and look at what I have to be grateful for.

Sometimes I'm good at acknowledging all I have to be grateful for. Sometimes I'm not.

As I was wrapping Christmas gifts late one night this week, I had a temporary moment of feeling sorry for myself. As a single mom the budget is tight. I had been doing pretty good saving ahead for Christmas, but this summer a crisis with one of my kids wiped out that savings in all of 10 minutes. The ensuing bills meant there just wasn't any money left over to save. So I did the best I could and each payday purchased one gift.

Although each of my six kids knew that there would only be two presents a piece under the tree this year, when I saw the gifts all wrapped and ready for the tree I felt sad. And even a little guilty that I couldn't give them more.

But then looking at the 12 gifts sitting on my bedroom floor I realized, wait a minute, this isn't too bad. In fact for the financial hardships I've had this year this is actually pretty good. Each kid was getting what they really wanted! I decided to stop dwelling on what I couldn't do, and instead focus what I had been able to accomplish.

My current gratitude list:


  • My six kids whose list of wants is short
  • Friends who have stepped up to help me make sure my kids are raised surrounded by love
  • Coworkers who have gone from employees, to friends to family
  • Health of my family and friends
  • The special people in my life who know how to make me smile, make me cry and make me laugh through my tears.
  • People there to greet me as I get off an airplane
  • Hard, sweaty gym workouts that clear my head any time I need
  • Technology that allows texts/calls/emails/chats anytime just to say Hi and I'm thinking of you.

This post is part of #reverb14, a series of daily writing prompts to explore the year passed and to manifest the year ahead. This prompt was found at Project Reverb


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