Giving Thanks

The first semester I spent at a new college was tough. It was a new town, I was a senior. I knew no one. I had just left two of my best adult experiences behind and felt lost.

One of the bright spots was my religion class - taught by a professor I had had at my original university. A man whom I deeply respected and remains to this day one of the most phenomenal professors I had.

Toward the beginning of the class, we studied a passage of scripture about gratitude. Dr. Whitmore encouraged us to keep "gratitude journals" through the semester - where every day we would write down three things for which we were grateful. There were no rules about how simple or complex they could be. Just that there HAD to be three and there could be no "even thoughs" or "buts" attached. They had to be genuine.

I took the challenge with resolution. Looking bad, I realize just how lost and misfit I felt. There are some days where my gratitude list was a challenge and merely stated, "I am thankful for the sun outside." It actually helped, because it forced positive thinking - and, on the worst days, forced me to look for things about which I was thankful so I could have an honest list.

November always makes me think "Thanksgiving," which makes me think of food and being grateful (not necessarily in that order). I got up this morning and started thinking about the little things that I would list in my gratitude journal today, if I had one.

1. It was above freezing this morning and it is "partly sunny." If the word "sunny" appears in a forecast AT ALL between November and April in The Frontier, I greet it with glee.

2. Woodstock. I could write a book. I'll refrain. Even on the worst days there are 14 different things I could list about Woodstock that would make me smile.

3. I am employed. Not only that, but because I worked very hard during the beginning of my career I am in a position where I have a job that is largely self-managed, one that allows me to work from home as often as necessary, is flexible and pays well.

4. I don't live in an apartment and I don't own a house. For some inexplicable reason, both of those make me deliriously happy. Not that I never want to own a house - quite the contrary - but right now, it's one less thing to worry about.

5. I am putting Dave Ramsey's plan in action. We have more savings, less debt and more spending money - which seems like it should be an oxymoron, but it isn't. Next year we will have a lot less debt and that will be even better. There is a plan. In the nation's worst economy in 50+ years, I actually feel peace.

6. I made a real-life friend who went through the same darkness I did last witner - in nearly the same way. Her baby is three months older and she is a stay-at-home-mom, but our stories are eerily similar. For the first time, I've been able to actually talk, out loud, about the whole thing from a big picture standpoint and not feel like I'm some hideously disfigured creature inside.

I haven't done much about a Gratitude Journal since that semester in college, but this month, I wonder if it is a tool that will help me focus on the immediate, here-and-now blessings that grace everyday life.

This Thanksgiving, I'm giving thanks for second chances, for little girls and for new beginnings. And, for (hopefully) good food.