Friday, November 27, 2015

thankful

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. A day dedicated to being grateful and giving thanks really gets my goat but since I can't change it I use it as an opportunity to show the girls why we are thankful every day. I have a friend who I met when she was a patient of mine at the Doctors office 20+ years ago and we have always stayed in touch. At some point, years ago, she became very involved in the church and even though she knows this is not my song we still get along and do things together. For Thanksgiving her Church along with another church in a sad sad part of town get together and feed the homeless and those down on their luck and for the past 3 years we have joined them.

The first year was a little awkward but now, now we love and look forward to it and have a lot of fun with it. Now it isn't just about feeding the homeless it's about food drives and clothing drives, toy drives and fun activities for the kids to play etc etc. Rosie always signs up to run the drinks table, or the lemonade stand as she calls it, she loves doing it. Before any of us can serve the food and drinks we have to prepare it and I honestly love watching all the volunteers dancing that dance.


As Always Rosies shirt was a bit tight
This is Maria and her hubby Albert. 2 honest to goodness good people.
Apparently Lily had some sort of liquid explosion whilst making lemonade. 
Once it was time to open the doors we left Rosie in capable hands and under watchful eyes to serve the drinks and Lily and I went into a room where the clothing was and handed out plastic bags to people and helped them fill them.. I am about to sound very shallow, so please continue reading as I had a lightbulb moment as did Lily; one of the first young men in the room was slim, he asked for size 32 and I said we have very little but come on I'll see what we've got. We shuffled around looking and he said, I can wear a 34 with a belt. So we found a pair of jeans and a pair of shorts then I spotted a shirt and asked if it had long sleeves I said it did but it was huge, he said, but it's warm, I said, but it's icky. (so slap me now~ the man has NOTHING, he has a tumor on his face that he obviously cannot get treated cos healthcare in this country is so so so expensive and he is shoving free clothes in to a bag and smiling the biggest smile and I am worrying about it matching and him looking nice- urghhhhhh) We hooked him up. We chatted with him, small talk, nothing personal, he smiled all the time. I don't know his story, I don't care. I just wish life wasn't so hard for some. Then came the women with children, migrants mainly, beautiful kids with bright bright eyes, moms with downcast faces. sad. But yesterday the kids all played together and they all had full tummies. I recognised one man from the past 2 years, still homeless, still drunk, but still smiling and grateful. I giggle at some of the men as they veer this way and that and scoop the food in, barely making it.

I don't like a day for giving thanks, we should be thankful every single day but I do like a day to give back

Lily has a IG account and yesterday in the car on the way home she wrote this and posted this picture.


y'all probably dont care what im thankful for but here goes: i really truly am thankful for all i have, we are all so much more fortunate than millions of others in this world I may complain, (a lot) but honestly I have no right to. i have a full belly, a roof over my head and a loving family. i have everything i need and anything i could ever want. others though are barely able to survive which is why every thanksgiving my momma, sister and i volunteer at branches united methodist church. we volunteer to help make lives a little better so that less fortunate people don't need to worry about being able to feed their families a big feast on thanksgiving because we help to provide it. this is probably the sappiest thing you will ever hear me say but it is truly magical to see how appreciative these people are. this is not usually their fault when they are in this situation. don't judge. accept. I know this is ironic coming from me but honestly never look down on someone unless you are helping them up. I hate that we have a specific day to be thankful for all we have we should be appreciative on a day to day basis. some people do believe in god and thank him every day and I find that principle of religion great . i may not agree with your views and i realize this is a touchy subject so i will get back on topic. i really could go on forever about how fortunate i am but in a summary i am appreciative of my family, education. health and friends. I am even appreciative of this little poop in the picture above, on the left, because I know if I didn't have her I'd be miserable. in conclusion i just want to say, happy thanksgiving to all.

I read this and I was really really proud of her. I think she gets it. I believe it is sinking in. It's not about possessions it's about you. When I read, never look down on someone unless you are helping them up, I knew she has been listening. On our way home yesterday we spotted a homeless man whom we have bought food for before. We were at a red light so I honked and he came over. Yesterday he cried when we gave him something and wished him happy turkey day, which in turn made us cry.

Then of course it was time to kick it up a notch and head over to celebrate Thanksgiving with Amy and family. Fabulous friendship that has lasted for years, great food, kids that adore each other and I am so so happy to see Lily and Nick working through this whole adolescent "thing" and figuring out how to still be friends as the biggest jock and biggest nerd on the planet. Last year they parted ways as the pervert and the boring nerd. Rosie is just happy to hang with Duke the dog and look for fish in the lake. Amy and I had 1,000 half finished sentences over the course of the day which will get caught up in text form as we realise they never happened on Thursday.

Life is good, wonderful in fact.

3 comments:

  1. Kudos to you & the girls! Love Lily's referral to Rosie as the "little poop"!

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I am thankful to call you friend. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving from all of us to all of you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an amazing post. I am in tears. You all are truly amazing.

    ReplyDelete