What Are You Thankful For?

Originally Written Between 2013-2015

I have to admit that I’ve been procrastinating on writing on this topic for today.  It is now 9:30 in the morning and I’ve just started.  “Why?” you may ask?  I’m not sure if I can truly put a label on it; but, I think I am in a state of depression.  I don’t think it is a serious form and hopefully, not long lasting.  I’d like to think that I am – for lack of a better word – stressed.  Maybe “overwhelmed” could be another word.  

Our Faith Community Nurse at my church provided an insert in our weekly bulletin yesterday entitled, “Tips for Reducing Holiday Stress.”  While the hints were all good and made sense, there was nothing there about what to do about the “unexpected.”  You see, I have spent the majority of the last 19 days trying to switch from Comcast/Xfinity to CenturyLink and Direct TV for my landline phone, the internet and cable TV.  

I can’t even count the number of hours I’ve spent on the phone.  I documented every phone call with date, time, and the made-up name of every one with whom I spoke.  All 30 pages are now in a 3-ring binder.  I won’t go into all the details because just going over my story again gets my heart racing.  I’ll sum it up as follows:  I was constantly transferred around which meant that I’d have to start all over with my story with a new “helper.” I was told that I would have to install the internet myself and with three artificial hips and two fake knees between my husband and me, let’s just say crawling along the floor looking for the right phone jack was not pleasant.  The phone didn’t work.  The internet didn’t work causing me to change my password 3 times in one day.  The TV lost connection 5-6 times a day.  I lost my emails on my iPhone, and… the biggest disaster of all …  we were hacked!  

We spent hours monitoring our savings and pension accounts, credit cards and had sleepless nights worrying about what else would happen and what could we do to prevent it.   I could go on and on but just typing this is making me upset!  Problems still exist and I can only hope that the technician who is supposed to come out tomorrow between 8:00 and Noon will solve all my concerns.  One can only hope!

Since I’ve been so engrossed in my own troubles, I found it impossible to think positive and write about today’s topic.  But, since my phone calls to the incompetent and rude customer service idiots have dwindled down to just one or two a day, I have been able to think about the good things in my life:  A loving husband, three handsome sons and one beautiful daughter who are caring, responsible and successful, a fun and supportive extended family, three exceptional grandsons, great friends, wonderful neighbors, new church friends, and the ability to retire from a job that I just loved!  We have a beautiful home and with good health and being fiscally responsible, Norm and I have been able to enjoy traveling around the States, the Caribbean, and Europe.  

After listening to our JFK Assassination memories last week, I discovered that I’m also thankful for being able to live in a country where “free speech” is still honored.  Everyone had political viewpoints that were or were not the same as others sitting in the room.  As Americans, we don’t have to worry about being jailed or killed for our political views.  We all have to be thankful for that.

As I reviewed what I just wrote, I just have to say that it doesn’t mean that I am not thankful for all that I have.  When I see all the devastation in other parts of the world and the freedoms they don’t have that I do, I feel ashamed that I seem to concentrate on ME and my temporary problems.  I know that they will eventually be resolved.

Twelve members of our family will be joining us for Thanksgiving and I intend to tell each one how much they mean to me and how loved I feel when I am with them.  The time to do it is now – who knows what next year will bring.   

In closing, I want to tell you how thankful I am for this writing group.  You all allow me a voice to say what I need to say.  I am accepted, encouraged and supported by a group of trusted and loved friends and I thank you for that.