Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thinking about Thanking

We live in a crazy world of our own design, where obscure markets fluctuate beyond our control while we buy crap we can't afford, and people blow each other up over whose magical story is better, and we seem addicted to fighting about our differences a lot more than appreciating just how much we have in common. That's life. That's the larger human condition at this moment in time. It's a mess, this great big human-built world.

But, I'm just a little, piddling thing, a wee and meager part of that larger human condition. And just as in physics, where the laws of the large fall apart at the wee and meager scale, things look a little different down here. While all these terrible, no good, very bad things swirl around, life down here sort of putters along with random ups and downs that have very little to do with those fluctuating markets and warring factions. You see, no matter what AIG is doing, my cat wants a lap and he wants it now. No matter how big the national debt gets, fresh pumpkin pie still tastes pretty awesome. No matter how many leaders meet to pontificate and promise about global change while doing nothing, my husband's smile and twinkly chestnut eyes still light up the room.

Things might be--well, are--a mess, but today and every day I am thankful for the wee and meager: that smile, that crazy cat, pie, my funny stepson with the gnatlike attention span and wonderfully good heart, bean plants that one day aren't there and the next day are waving at the sun with little heart-shaped hands, loving parents and lunatic sisters, the smell of wood fireplaces, lifelong friends, an office that's more like family, the soundtrack in the Grizzly Hills of Northrend, Grandmom Betty's butter nut cookies, good health and the wonder of muscles that move, modern medicines that help with that good health thing from time to time, a comfy bed, air conditioning, intestinal bacteria, stars that twinkle and planets that don't, winter sunsets on the Gulf, spinybacked orb weavers, El Cap cheeseburgers, a motorcycle ride on a cool day, breathing in and out...an infinite list of wonders that make a wee and meager spot at the tail end of the messy human parade a pretty cool place to be.

I'm thankful.

3 comments:

HandyGeek said...

:) I'm thankful for thankful people, for my wife and my son, for waking up without aches when I do, for walks around the park during the sunrise, for afternoon tea, for friends who are not just supportive but also objective, for my sisters who keep me on my toes and warm my heart, for my parents who continue to put up with my rebellious ways.

s_delgrosso said...

That's beautiful, Sharon. I am grateful that you write. :o)

tisha said...

Wow, Sharon. Amazing entry. I'm a little late in reading it, but I am grateful that I finally got a chance to read your entry. As you can tell by the date of this comment, it is now close to Christmas and a New Year is just around the corner. Seems all the more appropriate to take some time to remember (and relish) in the meager, yet powerful, things we are all thankful for ~ like friendships!
Merry Christmas my Friend!