I’m thankful that I took the time on Monday to encourage an online friend who was feeling very down.
I asked her how she was feeling on Tuesday and she said she was feeling much better.
Yesterday, her husband posted on her Facebook account that she had a heart attack and was in the hospital.
I had other things to do. I don’t know her real well, but we have chatted back and forth for over a year online. My husband was waiting for my help, yet I took the time to respond. I saw her post on Monday, where she felt so alone, and I’m so very, very glad that I took the time to reach out. It only took a few minutes of my time, and I’m glad I took the time.
Be kind. Be encouraging. Be the good you wish to see in the world.
What are you thankful for today?
Wow, that’s a really good thanksgiving, Brandy! I know you are so very glad you took the time to reach out to her.
I’m thankful for cooler weather at last. The older I get, the less I can stand the humidity and heat of late spring, summer, and early fall.
I’m thankful that my husband’s work provides us with dental insurance. He and I both put off dental care during the pandemic and had to have procedure this month. I’m not sure how we would have afforded it without insurance! I am also thankful that we could afford the deductible.
I’m thankful for the kind neighbor who raked my leaves.
I am so thankful for the teachers and family that taught me how to read.
Amazing post; thank you for sharing.
I am thankful for the kindness shown to me by my brother-in-law who dropped by and drank a cup of tea and chatted. It brightened my day.
I’m thankful for my lunch group, which we established through Nextdoor. I moved to South Carolina in 2018 and it’s harder to meet people when you don’t go to an office to work or have younger children and their activities, at least for me. We meet once a week, try out different local restaurants and have good conversations. I’ve also become friends outside the group with a couple people.
I’m thankful that I happened upon a new neighbor and we had a nice chat. Making new friends when you move is hard.
I’m thankful for a son that loves to cook. Every Wednesday he cooks us all dinner since it is his day off.
I am thankful for our vet who is treating our dog for her second bout of Kennel cough. They worked us in for an appointment even though they were booked and she seems a bit better after 2 days of meds. I am also grateful for the pet insurance that we carry for her so that the financial impact to us is minor & manageable. She is my second child and I am so glad to see her recovering.
Angie,
I hope your dog gets better. Interestingly, I just read an article on kennel cough! You may find it interesting.
https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2021/11/03/kennel-cough-infection.aspx?ui=c87e4dabb18427a1697f5d308cd819c07a6983223c3f7c62a0b43f704a3114a9&sd=20111203&cid_source=petsnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20211103Z1&mid=DM1026039&rid=1311358772
I am thankful Hubby asked E if they would like to finish picking the apples off our tree as we are done canning apples. He said could be used for cider or deer. E asked if they could be used for applesauce since they didn’t get enough apples to make enough applesauce to go through Feb. It’s something they usually eat daily. Not only is ours good for that. Hubby made a couple phone calls and find more apples that need picked for E to go get. I would be sad to find we had apples rotting when they needed them for food.
I am thankful for stopping this morning and being aware of all that I can be thankful for, a warm home, my family, and our November bills under control. Brandy, your comment (about your online friend who needed some friendship later followed by her heart attack) is a poignant reminder to take the time every day to pay attention to what matters. Thank you for that story.
Thank you for this reminder that kindness is so important.
I am thankful for my husband’s patience and kindness to me and to others.
Can I just add to your joy? When we follow the promptings of our heart, we usually do end up blessing someone. Well done and good for reminding me to do the same. This post made me happy.
I’m thankful for a warm fire on these chilly and damp days. I’ve lived most all of my life with a fire and it brings life to a house as well as warmth. Certainly lots of work, but we’ll worth the effort for us.
I am thankful for food on the table that I choose to eat, not because it was all that was available to me. We are, even in rising food prices, abundantly blessed in being able to have choices when it comes to food.
I am thankful for good memories. I’ve especially been thinking lately of my grandmothers. One was a peasant who immigrated from Poland at 17 and the other was born in a log cabin in the Ozarks. One became a widow when my mother was 13. The other was deserted by an alcoholic husband when my dad was young. They worked so hard and faced many hardships and yet they were so full of joy in the years I remember. They raised their children to be honest, trustworthy, moral people. I have such fond memories of them. Sometimes I wish I had the gift of going back in time for a day to relive some of them. I feel in my heart I will see them again some day.
Wonderful post. So glad you reached out to her! We just never really know the difference we can make. Grateful for my faith today and everyday to get me through!
I am grateful for your reminder that a few moments of our time can mean the world to someone else. That is powerful as it is often hard to feel that one person can make a difference in this world. But, we all can!
I am thankful for our nearest neighbors. They are an older couple without children of their own but they have always treated us like family and have become a third set of grandparents for my children. My boys go down and help them almost every day – today it is bringing in wood for their fire. My youngest once asked me if it was weird that one of his best friends is in her 70s. I said, “Not at all. In fact, I think it is wonderful.” And I do. We call them “chosen family.”
Have a blessed day, everyone!
I am thankful that my furnaces are in very good shape — they are usually serviced
every year (in part to keep the warranty valid) but servicing was missed last year due to covid.
I am thankful for when my family, scattered around the world, takes time to remember me.
I am thankful for laughter.
I’m thankful for a hardworking husband who thinks the glass is half full. I’m glad he provides some balance in our family! ;-P
I am thankful for my best friend, Karen.
We have been friends since I was 15.
We both married early and we have lived in different states most of our lives and yet…we can pick up the phone and we are there…15 again.
Karen has had some serious health issues this last year. The thought of losing her had never occurred to me.
Karen…the sister of my heart. She has blessed me over and over again. I thank God for her.
I’m thankful for my family.
This post reminds me of all the light you shine in this world, and how thankful I am to have found you and this community.
I always look forward to your thankful series. It reminds me to take time to appreciate the many blessings God provides. Today I am thankful for the medical staff who saved my husband two years ago when he had a heart attack. I vividly remember responding to that day’s thankful post and your kind words.
I’m very thankful my daughter passed her police academy fight for your life/sustained resistance physical test-the hardest physical test. The test was pass or fail with an automatic fail out of academy which graduates next month. She will lose her job with an academy fail out. I’m so grateful she is still an academy cadet & employed!!!!!
I am thankful for a wonderful, dear friend I had. My friend has been gone for 6 years now and I still miss her everyday. The memory of our friendship is precious and frequently reminds me that life is often too short. Thank you, Brandy, for the reminder to be kind and pay attention to the stirrings in our souls.
What wonderful truth you shared, Brandy! Listening to those still small voices is so important! Thank you for that reminder. I am thankful that I picked a bouquet of nasturtium flowers and leaves as I was picking the garden before our first frost. They are on my kitchen window sill, and I had never heard of them before you introduced them to me on your blog. I have fallen in love with them! They self sowed from last year and are beautiful all summer and fall!
I am grateful for good friends.
I am thankful for electricity and the individuals who worked at 3:00 this morning to get my power back on. I don’t know the cause, but there were under 40 homes without electricity starting at 1:00 this morning, and my home was one of them. I am very thankful that our utility company didn’t let the fact that there were so few homes without power deter their starting to fix it.
I am grateful for our warm house. It has been a long day and turning cold so it was so nice to come home to the warmth.
I’m so thankful for a friend, S, with whom I text every day. We met over 15 years ago when we both worked in a university library, and have been friends ever since, despite always living in different cities. We’re currently in the same stage of life, raising young kids of similar ages and dealing with similar life issues, and her warm support, understanding, and friendship, means more than words can say. Life is so much easier when you have a bestie who just gets you!
I’m thankful for the love and prayers of my church family.
I am thankful that 2 of my 3 2-year old littles are currently napping-with the third resting quietly. He really wants to give up his nap and hang out with his 4 year old brother- but hopefully not yet
That was so kind of you to reach out to your friend, Brandy.
I’m thankful that some tools can be rented cheaply. My husband was able to make sidewalk repairs that saved us several hundred dollars with a tool he only needed for a few hours.
I’m thankful for the vast number of recipe sites online. I was ordered back on a strict plant based diet and there are some healthy but tasty meals I am looking forward to trying.
I’m thankful for the ability to quickly send and receive pictures with phones so we can see our only grandbaby regularly. I remember when my own children were growing up and taking pictures meant buying film, taking pictures, taking the film in to be developed, waiting to pick it up and then mailing the few good pictures off to grandparents.
I’m thankful for two things today. I thought about saving one for another day, but I truly am thankful for them TODAY. So, without further ado…
(1) Thank you, Brandy, for your kindness to your friend–and a good reminder to all of us. I have a friend who needs to hear from me today…and she will!
(2) I’m thankful for a furnace that seems to be working correctly today for the first time in 3-1/2 years. Finally gave up on the original HVAC company and the 5 year warranty (which never seemed to cover the problem) and called a former neighbor who has done good work for us in the past. He charged us $150 for the furnace AND to clean the gas fireplace.
I am grateful that I was invited to an art exhibition today. I got to spend some quality time with my mom in law and we both got to enjoy Edvard Munch and his friends’ take on our fjord. I live near by a place where Munch lived and I love his nature paintings. Later we went down to one of the beaches he painted and had lunch we brought from home and coffe from thermos. The day filled me with desire to see the beauty wherever and whenever I get a chance.
Your day sounds wonderful!
Thank you for sharing,
Lea
I am thankful for my 2 friends whom I’ve known and been close to all my life. We have kept in touch continuously through many decades though we live far apart. They are my sisters of my heart.
I am so very grateful for the expansion of Instacart into the far suburbs/woods in which we live. Mom and I are homebound. And, like it did today, it costs 20%-25% more for delivery than for picking up groceries at the store ($10 for delivery when ordered directly from Kroger.com to take advantage of coupons plus a $10 tip since there were 50 items in the order and we’re almost seven miles from the nearest Kroger. But I shopped carefully and the total $67.50 for groceries and $12.50 for personal and household supplies and taxes were discounted $33 from non-sale prices.
One of mom’s friends (mine too now) moved to a small city just west of Ann Arbor to be nearer to her daughter during the start of the pandemic (Her lease on her apartment near here had ended at exactly the wrong time.). Since the move she gave up her car keys and broke her hip. But Instacart is not serving her zip code yet so she has to depend upon her daughter doing her grocery shopping for her or she has to venture out on the senior bus during a Covid-19 surge.
I’m thankful for the Lord’s protection as my son learns to drive.
I am thankful for my pets – they provide me with near constant amusment.
I am thankful for two young men who have been doing some work in my home that I cannot do myself. They’ve been hard working, polite, and friendly.
I am thankful for a chance pop up of a you tube video “Pro Home Cooks” after I had viewed another video that had nothing to do with cooking. He was talking about people going about prepping meals the wrong way which intrigued me so I watched the rest of it. His ideas were to make a simple homemade dressing, mix of spices, and sauce I believe and adapt your meals to them for a week. He showed examples of 15 minute meals using the prepped items.
The next day I cooked two meals worth of minute steaks in the crock pot and there was a lot more spiced gravy than needed. DS told me I had to find something to go with that gravy as it too good not to eat which made me think of the concept on that video. Tonight I decided to use that gravy with slices of pork roast I had frozen on toasted bread with candied yams and field peas with beans. The gravy turned out perfect with the roasted pork and it was a nice meal. Planning it backwards was strange, but fun, and there was no waste. I may have to intentionally watch that video again.
I am thankful that my husband is recovering well from double brain aneurysm surgery last year and his logic, speech, mobility and feeling in his left hand side have improved so much over the last year 🙂 . Glad also as an ex nurse I listened to the nagging feeling that something was wrong with pressure behind his eyes constantly and insisted he get a brain scan done. There is a family history of fatal brain bleeds in his family where his mother and grandmother died instantly.
So thankful for the wonderful experienced and trained doctors that performed the operation, the stroke rehabilitation team and close friends who kept in constant contact and visited to see if we were okay.
Wow, Lorna!
Thank you Brandy the 2 aneurysms were supposed to me on the outside of the brain according to scans he had prior to the operation but they turned out to be in the centre they found when operating. Instead of 3 – 4 hours on the table he was there for 7.5 hours. With such a huge operation he was left with stroke like symptoms down the left hand side and had to learn to walk, talk and think again.
Neglected to say above that I am also thankful for the wonderful care of the nurses they provided DH in the hospital.
Something else to be thankful for is in October this year we had his 1 yearly checkup and scan and he is now clear of any aneurysms 🙂 .
I am thankful for my dear friend, Barb.
Lea
Brandy, what a blessing that you stopped to encourage someone.
Today I am thankful for wonderful books to read. When I am doing housework, I enjoy listening to audiobooks too.
Loves reading your thankful comment today. Since retiring this past spring I’ve tried to be more intentional when I feel a prompting to send a card, text, email etc. & whatever I do, I find I’m blessed and spiritually enriched as well. Enjoy reading all the comments, a true moral booster.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is an excellent provider for us and for those around him. He works hard, is generous, and has taught me to pitch in at the end of parties, etc. to help clean up. I have learned many good things from him.