November 26,, 2019

At church on Sunday my Unitarian Universalist minister preached a sermon on gratitude, appropriate for the Sunday before our American Thanksgiving Day. He passed out stamped postcards with a Gratitude design and asked us to write to people in our lives for whom we are grateful, people who might be surprised to receive such a postcard. So I wrote one such postcard, but I have been thinking of the people in my life—-not just my family and close friends—but all the others who keep my world going and for whom I am grateful:

Marcie who house-sits for me and who leaves a small bouquet of garden flowers to welcome me home

Karen who has rescued me from malware problems with her tech-savvy help

Zari who has cut my hair for thirty years and never once suggested I dye or perm it

Whitney a fifth grader who gives me hugs when she sees me at church

Margaret my friend who has helped me wrangle my cats into carriers

Antonio my expert gardener who looks at me with his warm brown eyes and pats my arm when we discuss plans for the garden; “little by little, Mrs. M., little by little,”  he says

Eddie and his brother who laid a beautiful path of stepping stones through my shade garden last spring, and fixed the mud hole by the pasture gate

Limbert the plumber who dug on a hot July day to find the leaking water pipe on my front hill

Doug and Scott who paint and patch and problem solve electrical problems with honesty and kindness

The drivers who deliver my packages from Amazon and UPS and FedEx and bring the heavy ones to my doorstep

The lawn cutting crew who mow and edge the so-called grass every week during growing season

Kevin the service manager at the local gas station who helps me patiently

And Kevin at the bird seed store who always greets me with a cheerful smile before we talk about birds and squirrels, and then carries the heavy bags to my car

All of these people and many others whose names I do not know make my life better.

Who are the people in your life for whom you are grateful?