Saying Thank You

Today for Gratitude Week, Michelle wants us to say "Thank You."

 

I don't think it's a difficult thing to say most of the time.  I probably thank people a hundred times a day - for holding a door, emptying the trash in my office, and so many other things.  To be honest, I try to remember to say it sincerely, but sometimes it's a rote thing.  But I tell myself that at least I *do* say it.

One of my favorite plays in the world is "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder.  And the part that always puts me over the top emotionally is the scene where the young girl who has died gets the chance to see one ordinary day in her life again.  And she watches as everyone goes about their routines, fixing meals, going to work and school, asking where something is - the minutiae of everyday existence.  And all she can say is "Why aren't we LOOKING at each other?"  And every time I read that line (which I have paraphrased but you get the gist), it hits me right in the gut.  Because it's true.  We spend so much time talking and questioning and hurrying, and everything else that we don't look to see what we have.  

This is not a criticism.  It's just a truth.  And we all do it, most of the time unconsciously.  Wilder says, "We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."  Life, work, the world, so many other things just grab our attention all of the time.  But when we are suddenly forced to stop and look/think/feel about what we have, is generally almost always what can make us feel better.  At least, it does that for me.

For all of the awful, sad, unfortunate things that have happened in my life, I have a weird gratitude because all of them made me realize how lucky I am.  And sometimes you need a kick in the pants for your heart to become "conscious of your treasures."

But anyway, I digress.  The people I wanted to say Thank You to are those of you reading this.  Because you are here, you are reading and sometimes commenting, and though I appreciate it more than I can say, I seldom think to say Thank You.  

I started this blog - and have kept writing it - mostly for myself, and partly because at the beginning I wanted to sign up for a Ravelry swap and you had to have a blog to participate.  Back then, there were a lot of people who read and commented who were friends of mine in real life, not in cyberspace, and who by now have stopped blogging altogether, or have moved on to other ways of participating in the fiber world.  So for a while, I was just writing this for myself.

And then all of you showed up and I had a new bunch of friends.  People who were just out there and who I didn't necessarily know otherwise.  And you had nice things to say, or answers to questions, or you sympathized or laughed at one of my lame jokes.  I would read your blogs and find out about what made you tick as well.

Basically, you save my life every day.  Because you show up and let me know that even if I'm lonely, I'm not alone.  Even if I'm sad, it's OK.  No one gets irritated if I rant (or if you do, you just move on and don't lecture me about it!).  We can laugh about the same stupid, funny, or just unfortunate things.  You answer questions without being preachy or condescending.  And you don't complain about my crummy photography skills.

That's just for starters, by the way.

THANK YOU.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Intersections

Today, two things are intersecting for me:  Think ... Write ... Thursday! and Gratitude Week.

Carole and Kat want us to write about our favorite teacher or a teacher who had a major influence on us.  Michelle is asking us to think of something that irks or annoys us, and find at least one good thing about it.

So ... Nuns.

When I was a kid, nuns were the bane of my existence.  Most of the time, I attended Catholic schools, and back then, most of the teachers were nuns - old school nuns, in habits and with POWER.  And I probably could have dealt with that if my father didn't have two aunts who were nuns - Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Marie Jeannette.

Now, Sister Marie Jeannette was the younger one (meaning we still thought she was old but she was younger than Sister Mary Joseph, who we felt was "mega-old.").  She was the director of a Catholic orphanage, and seemed to genuinely like children.  She was kind, with a sense of humor, and always had a smile.  We didn't get to see her that often though, since she was busy with her work.

Sister Mary Joseph on the other hand, was a retired nurse.  She was the nun of nightmares.  Old, conservative, bossy, and expecting to be kowtowed to.   She felt it was part of her mission in life to visit her nieces and nephews and their children regularly, and would find someone to drive her around to these visits (women we called "The Ideal Parishioner"), which, needless to say, were always drop-ins.  My father would be at work, or out, and she would show up, expecting my mother and all of us to drop everything to visit with her.  My mother - always reminding us that "it's your father's family, you know" - got to the point where she would see a car pull up, see Sister starting to emerge, and yell - "the nuns" - which meant that if at all possible we went out the back door, walked around the block and by the time we got back, Sister and aforementioned Ideal Parishioner would be gone.  Once an unsuspecting boyfriend of one of my sisters was left to deal with her, because he didn't get out in time.

So.  Between Sister Mary Joseph and many of the nuns who taught me in elementary school who were just like her, I had a vendetta against most nuns.

Then I got to high school, where we had a combination of nuns, brothers, and lay teachers.  And in my sophomore year, I took the required Civics class and was assigned to the class taught by Sister Virginia.  At this point, many nuns were no longer wearing their old school habits, and Sister Virginia always wore a white blouse, navy skirt and vest, with a cross necklace, stockings, and sensible shoes.  And none of it was the uber-spongy-polyester that the others favored.  She also had a lovely, short, salt-and-pepper hairstyle and glasses, and always a smile.  She was "old" (meaning, probably ten or more years younger than I am currently), but not old school.

I have always been interested in geography, politics, and government.  Probably because it was discussed a lot at home and we moved around so much.  Sister Virginia rocked Civics class.  We did projects, we held town meetings, we debated issues, we held campaigns and elections, and it was amazing.  She loved what she taught, and clearly loved teaching.  Most students responded well, and engaged in the class enthusiastically.

And so, from Sister Virginia, I learned that a good teacher can make all the difference in the world.  I learned the meaning as well as the responsibilities of good citizenship.  And I learned that NUNS was not always an awful four-letter word.  During college, someone told me that Sister Virginia had died of cancer, and that seemed particularly unfair - as cancer always is.  But when I vote next Tuesday, I know I'll hold a special thought for Sister Virginia in my heart.

Just as a note - since becoming an adult, I realized that part of what possibly made nuns seem so horrible when I was a child was that, like most women, they had few choices for their professions.  They could be nurses or teachers.  I'm guessing there were plenty who had to become teachers and were not fond of teaching and/or children.  Which is a shame.  I know I couldn't have done it, as I am not a good soldier that way.

We have all indeed come a long way.

Who Will Buy?

OK, now I've just given myself an earworm - the song "Who Will Buy?" from the musical "Oliver!"  Oh well, there are worse things to have in your head.  But still, I apologize if you have it now as well.

I saw this on a blog post earlier today.

Pretty, right?  I love the bright colors.  But then I clicked on the link for it, because I was curious about the fiber, etc.  And WOW - I did not expect it to be $228.00!!

Yes, it's lambswool.  Which is really soft, and cozy, and pretty.  And if it was hand knit, I might understand the cost.  But I sincerely doubt it's hand knit.  

Now I'm not saying it's a waste of money, because you know, to each their own.  But I actually have a hard time buying a scarf, regardless of price.  I always figure that I can make my own (granted I usually do not), and even if I spent money on really nice yarn, I would have the fun of knitting it.   And I truly cannot imagine, even if I saved every penny I had, spending $228.00 on the yarn for a scarf, even if was spun from the hair of baby Jesus ...

Anyway.

For today's Week of Gratitude post, Michelle wants to know what around us, delights us.  Here are four of my delights:

No matter what, they can always make me smile, and feel loved.  And that goes for not just these four, but for all of the sweethearts who have ever been and ever will be, part of my life.  

What delights you?

November Is Here

Hello and Happy November!  This is a busy month for us - lots of family birthdays, anniversaries, and of course - Thanksgiving!!!!

Today for instance, is my sister Nancy's birthday.  I won't see her, since she lives in California, but I talked to her over the weekend and sent her a Facebook message today (sadly, I did not have my act together in time to actually send her a card.  I may be the only one who minds).  She is excited because she is accompanying my brother-in-law on his business trip to Orlando, Florida.  While he does his work thing, she is going to spend a couple of days catching up with a close friend who lives there.  So it's pretty certain she's going to have a good birthday week.

Of course, we are also at the official start of NaBloPoMo  We'll see how I do this year - last year I did manage to complete the challenge for the entire month.  I already have a short list of things I want to write about, so that's something to help me get started.

And it's the second day of Gratitude Week.  Today we were prompted to write about gratitude for something in the past.  I gave this some thought, because there is a lot to choose from, but I decided that I am grateful for my education.  Our family was poor - I mean actually poor, where we sometimes were living with relatives, barely had Christmas (though we always had something and it was wonderful!), etc.  But my parents valued education, and though they never went beyond high school as far as formal education, they were the type who were so interested in so many different things and so well-read that they could hold their own among those with many more years of schooling.  When it came time for each of us to go to college, we were fortunate to be able to get scholarships and loans, and go to the schools we wanted to attend.  Of all of our first cousins - who were from families doing much better financially - my sisters and I were the only ones to attend college.  This was a source of true pride to my parents.

Elementary school was up and down for me, depending where we lived.  We moved around a lot, and sometimes I would start at a new school and be ahead of the rest of the kids in my class, and it would be really boring for me.  I hated high school, though I got good grades.  But wow did I hate it.  The cliques, the social crap, and classmates who seemed so much younger to me that they were barely interesting.

But when I got to college, it started to work well for me.  I attended a small, liberal arts college run by Jesuit priests.  From the first day of the first class, I remember that what was emphasized was that we learned to *think.*  At first, this made no sense to me - didn't I already know how to think?  Didn't everyone?  Of course, what they meant was that they wanted us to develop our critical thinking skills, because that would be what would make us able to be successful in the world.

The older I get, the more grateful I am for this opportunity.

No Tricks or Treats

Happy Halloween!  

I hope your Halloween was more fun than mine was - we did not get a single trick-or-treater.  It's so disappointing, as I love seeing the kids in their costumes.  In previous years, Dug and I would sit outside on the steps and needless to say he was very popular!  Tonight it was a little bit too chilly to sit out, but other than the little girl next door who always has a party with her friends, I didn't even hear any kids around.

Sigh.

**********

I signed up for Gratitude Week, which I read about at Kat's blog.  I figured it would be a way to focus on good things, but also help me slide into NaBloPoMo.  I participated in NaBloPoMo last year, and though some days it was really a challenge, it was also a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.

Anyway, today I am grateful that I can still enjoy Halloween even without trick-or-treaters.  I enjoy seeing ours (and others') decorations.  I like seeing pictures of kids, adults, and pets in costumes of all kinds.  It will be a nice treat to have some candy to eat, since all of ours is left over (we didn't buy that much, but it's still all here).  In a world where plenty of people can't celebrate Halloween even if they wanted to, or where having anything at all to eat, much less leftover candy, is a struggle, I know that I am a lucky person, and I am grateful for that.

Farewell, October.  Tomorrow we're on to November, to see what it brings.