Thanks To You

This Thanksgiving, I wanted to post a special shout-out to all of you readers and cyberfriends.  Friendship in any form should be cherished and I cherish you all.  You have helped me realize a lifelong dream.  I always wanted to write, but was always too scared of failing to translate the dream into reality.  Thanks in large part to your energy and validation, I have found the courage.  I have been writing this blog for nearly two years now.  

When I was teaching leadership classes, I used to tell my students, “Leaders have followers.  If you turn around and no one is following you, you aren’t leading.  You are just taking a walk.”  I think it might be kind of similar for writing.  I can write, but I’m kind of missing a key component of the process if no one is reading. I’m not communicating; I’m just recording my mutterings to myself.  I’m just memorializing the voices inside my head for my own posterity.   

I thank you for listening to my mutterings. I thank you for the confidence you gave me when I saw that people truly seemed to be reading.  I thank you for not thinking I was ridiculous for believing anything I have to say could possibly be meaningful to anyone else.   I thank you for helping me grow my little circle of blog besties by sharing my writing with others.  I thank you for your thoughtful comments. I thank you for your suggestions.  I thank you for the kind words of encouragement.  I thank you for turning my one-sided blogging into a rich, interesting conversation.  I thank you for the support and sympathy you showered on me while I was my mother’s traveling companion on her journey towards the end of life.  I thank you for your understanding and empathy when the blog became grief-heavy as I watched my mother struggle and die.   

All too often in life, we get caught up in our day-to-day existence and forget the miracles that bring joy to our lives. We are inclined to bemoan our struggles because they demand our attention.   It is hard to ignore the difficulties.  They always seem to be in our faces, commanding us to do something to halt the pain they cause us.  Even when we try to push them into the darkest corner of our minds and hope they stay there, the effort is time and energy consuming.  And, by the way, “hope” is not a strategy.  Those difficulties rarely stay put when we push them into the darkest corner of our minds, so we have to spend even more time and energy on them.   

On Thanksgiving, at least, we get the chance to stop and smell the miracles.  We take one beautiful day to be honestly, truly, deeply grateful for our blessings.   

As you enjoy your Thanksgiving celebrations, please know I am thinking of you and thanking you for the joy you have brought me.  Happy Thanksgiving!  You are a blessing in my life. 

What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?  Please share your perspective by leaving a comment.  In the alternative, you can send me an email at terriretirment@gmail.com.  

Have a blessed day!

Terri 🙂

6 thoughts on “Thanks To You”

  1. Beautiful! Thank you once again for so eloquently putting my thoughts into writing! As I may have told you, I too thought about being a writer once I retired, but I just haven’t found the “courage” to take that first step. I am so grateful to you for quite often writing my thoughts exactly….it almost seem like you’re doing the hard work for me!! Writing so that your readers can relate to what you’re saying is a gift, and again, I am truly grateful for you and your blog!! Happy Thanksgiving!

  2. Your comment about leadership made me chuckle. I’m going to be using it in the future I am sure.

    I too find support, encouragement, and inspiration from my blog-o-sphere friends. I think I’ve chosen many of them (and vice-versa?) because we are walking similar paths on similar timelines. Not the same, but similar enough to be able to empathize.

    Facing the holidays with grief/loss (or with significant illness)…and still being able to find the joy and the gratitude. Inspiring.

    1. Thanks, Pat. I do feel kind of flat and two-dimensional this holiday season. My mother had a great talent for happiness and I want to embrace happiness the way she taught me. I don’t think it is helpful to engage in forced gaiety, but I do want to grow towards the joy where I find it.

  3. Hi Terri,
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts in such a beautiful write up. Just stumbled upon your blog while reading through some retirement blogs.
    I live outside US but got to meet quite a few Americans while taking a cruise in Europe 2 months ago.
    Keep writing and enjoy every day to the fullest.
    God bless.

    Belany

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