THANKFUL FRIDAY

Gratitude is tricky this week. I got absorbed with the horrors happening in Rafah and I’ve spent extra time contacting representatives and the President and basically anyone who is supposed to be representing my voice in the government to demand a ceasefire and to send aid not weapons. Then this morning, I got trapped in a conversation on Chinese/Taiwanese politics and had to send out a distress text to get out of it. The world is a tight ball of tension. It is really difficult sometimes to step out of the tension and take notice of the good things I am grateful for.

But I know that if I try real hard, I can come up with something.

I have on a brand new pair of overalls. They are navy blue and covered with daisies and I love them. They have been sitting in my drawer all week because I wanted to wear them today. Today is our Team Building event and instead of doing some activity that half of our group will complain about doing, we are volunteering at Harvester’s, a regional food bank that provides equitable access to nutritious food in the Missouri/Kansas area. I have been so excited about this since the idea was hatched a month ago. I don’t know what I’ll be doing, sorting canned goods or filling boxes, whatever, I’m excited and thrilled to be doing it. I’ve been thinking about it all week and it is the thing that is filling me with joy right now. Which tells me that I should be doing more of this.

So, while I’m at Harvester’s I’m going to talk to whoever I need to talk to about how I can volunteer on a regular basis.

I am grateful for my new overalls and all the pockets on my new overalls. There’s one whole pocket for my water bottle! I’m really grateful for this opportunity to help my community. Sure, this sounds cheesy and Pollyanna-ish. I hear it. I get it. I don’t care. I feed on acts of kindness and good works. I’m doing all of this for purely selfish reasons and that reason is that it makes me feel good. Not in a I’m-better-then-you kind of way or this-makes-me-a-good-person kind of way. It just feels good to do good.

Do good.