...with hearts and hands and voices
Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices
Who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today
-Now Thank We All Our God, traditional hymn
Thirty Days of Thanksgiving, Day #24-26 - My parents.
I hate that I've missed not one but two days on the thirty days of Thanksgiving. That's particularly bad when one of those was, well, Thanksgiving Day. But the truth is that blogging daily had begun to feel like a burden, something that was taking away precious time from my family. As hard as it is to believe (!!!), I usually put a fair amount of thought and time into writing. So I decided to take a break from merely talking about what I'm thankful for -- and actually spend that time enjoying the blessings I have. But I'm back at it today!
Part of the problem is that I've come down to the last few days, and I still haven't properly expressed thanks for the most important people in my life. My friend, Sush, at First Do No Harm, regularly uses her blog to talk about those she loves, dedicating posts to individual family members on their birthdays or anniversaries. That's a lot of pressure! The idea of summing up a person in a few words (or even a few pages!) is incredibly intimidating to me. I think that's why the idea of writing obituaries seems so hard. So, I'm not going to attempt to cover every reason I appreciate some of these special folks. I'm going to dive in, share some thoughts of gratitude, and not feel such pressure to write the perfect post.
I'll start with my Mom and Dad, the first people on this earth to love me and to teach me what it means to know love. So many who try to describe the love and care of God use parental imagery, and I connect well with that. I get it because my parents love me unconditionally. They give me guidance and help me find my way, but they've given me space to make my own choices as well.
But I'm not just thankful for the love they've shown me - I'm thankful that they have taught me by example what a good marriage looks like. I appreciate the material things they have given me to make my life easier. I am thankful that I've grown into an adult relationship where I genuinely view them as friends. I appreciate the parenting lessons they have shared in recent years. I'm glad I have my perfect shopping buddy in my mom. I'm grateful that my dad taught me an appreciation for good music and cheeseburgers in paradise. I am thankful they've instilled their super-corny, goofy-dorky sense of humor. ("Put ... the candle ... back." - Can you name the movie?!)
They've made me who I am, and I am thankful that I have them in my life. Love you guys!
3 comments:
Without even Googling it, I know that quote has to be from Young Frankenstein - an underrated cinematic masterpiece from yesteryear...
I was going through some old photos this morning, thanks to Kylie's scanning all of our boxes of random pics thrown together, and came across the next thing to be grateful for - that gigantic glasses the size of saucers (flying, not dishware) have gone the way of whale-boned corsets and snoods. I think that your mom and dad, Uncle Tal and I were all wearing that amazingly awful, fugly eyewear back in the day when our conversations were peppered with references to YF and Frau Blucher (cue the horse!).
Gabby
LOL, Thanks for the 'Shout Out', and yeah, I too will pass on the obituaries! It's a labor of love and yep, sometimes the pressure is on when I write about family members and/or friends, but they call or write telling me they love it and are looking for the next installment. And I think you have done a great job writing about everyone you love...you just don't realize you are doing it, I guess. Keep posting, I love reading!
Hugs!
Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed that. My son and I trade movie quotes too. But it was actually your quotation from Martin Rinkart's great hymn of thanksgiving that caught my attention. Today is the 361st anniversary of his death. If you don't know the story of his amazing courage and steadfastness in a time of war, I invite you to check it out on my daily hymn blog, Wordwise Hymns, for today.
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