gratitude

I’m pretty much a “glass half full” kinda girl. It’s a choice – and why not choose the happy option? I have a loving husband and family, and more than enough “stuff”. And I live here:

(photo credit to my brilliant son)

Mr. Stamper and I are living The Duo Life this Thanksgiving. The newlyweds are in Australia where Thanksgiving fixin’s are hard to find, my middle daughter is with her young man and his family on the East Coast, and my son is with his roommate in Chicago – and they apparently went to the circus tonight. Go figure. The two of us are going to Mass in the morning (how better to say thanks?), then helping serve a sit-down meal at the feeding program at our church. Later we’ll join a group of dear friends out at Green Acres (aka Haiku) to celebrate our gratitude with good food and a refreshing beverage or two.

We have been richly blessed, and as we grow in age and wisdom we are realizing that the best way to show our gratitude is to pass those blessings on.

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

How easily the words “Thank you” roll off our lips. We say thanks so easily for so many small things…a kind gesture, a small gift, a thoughtful compliment.

Gratitude implies something more. It implies we’ve thought about what was given or done for us, turned it over in our minds and acknowledged that extra effort was put into the gift. It feels more Thankful, not just thanks.

This card was inspired by a couple of challenges at Splitcoast. One of them was to use the color red, and after a couple of false starts, everything fell into place. I’m grateful.