It's ALL Worth It
What is overflowing your cup?
Hello all and sundry,
Hey, it’s good to have you here! Come on in and lets do some couch sittin’, why don’t we. Grab your favorite drink or, if you’re feeling like me today, change it up a bit. I have my normal sweet green tea (mildly sweet—just a hint of sugar), but today I’ve added one lone drop of Rosemary oil (food grade essential oil). It has it’s benefits. Yes, I do love my essential oils and often add them to my tea. Not everyone’s “cup of tea”, but you do you and I’ll do me; we’ll all be happy. If you are up for snacks, grab yours and lets get to talkin’!
We all know that with November comes the big T day. What T am I talking about? Turkey? Thanksgiving? Well, thanks—giving is on my mind and not the day of turkey and cooking up an innumerable amount of side dishes. Which I am prone to do. What I want to talk about is the place of thankfulness we come to EVERY day of the year, or we hope, at least, we come to it more often than not. November does make us think about it more than most months, though, at least universally here in the states.
Do you remember the big push on keeping a Gratitude Journal? Well, how many of us actually kept a journal specifically for that? Let me confess my sins here: I am AWFUL at keeping up with a journal. I love the idea of journaling and I have journals, don’t get me wrong, but being daily consistent with one has always been a challenge for me. Still, I do find that when I get the writing urge, I fill pages upon pages. Within those throws of inspiration, I will produce gratifying lists of all that I want to give homage to, thus my professions of giving thanks.
Today, I hope we will share our lists with each other. How long our lists are really doesn’t matter as much as just putting those pieces of thanks out into the universe and feeling their significance. So, if you have just one, that is wonderful. If you have more, that is equally as wonderful. May we take in each others giving of thanks and hold it tenderly as though we were passing around someone’s newborn.
For me, and for this post’s purpose, I am giving a list of 30, which is one for each day of November. Each one can be a word, phrase, sentence, and I am keeping mine to no more than a sentence to keep this post from being a novella, or a really long novel. Cheers to each of us and our thanks—giving!
Here goes!
A gentle breeze carrying to the nose the aromas of fall.
Memories holding up for us to see, in hindsight, every emotion felt.
The crack of a bat as the hitter has opportunity for a good run.
The grace we give ourselves to feel new emotions and weave them in among those of the remembered.
Laughter’s ability to explode into tears while becoming uncontainable giggles.
Connections made while standing in line or connections turned friendships, no matter the distance, via that internet highway.
Lying down on a carpet of grass and letting Earth hold each cell of this body vessel.
Tear’s release and its slow roll on its journey down the cheek.
The vibrating purr of a contented cat as it makes biscuits.
Treasure hunting with my 8 year old grandson; seeing opened eyed wonder when the metal detector gives its, ‘It’s under here!’ tone.
Hearing my Love laugh or sigh while watching kittens play outside the den window.
Newly mowed grass or the first bales picked up from hayfields.
The free will we have to make choices and be who we are.
The puff, puff of air expelled when a cow considers an extended carrot treat.
Being fully present in the tear’s process and accepting its saltiness as it is tasted.
Stadium cheers with our family of fans.
Lit up eyes when in loving conversation.
A slow drive on bumpy backroads.
The little hummingbird who hovers outside my writing room’s window telling me that the front porch feeder is in need of a refill.
Traveling a good distance to attend a great-grandbaby’s first birthday celebration.
Duck language and head bops while splattering water with wings.
The soul learning gained from Life’s teaching of hard lessons, even the hardest ones.
Being able to have a voice in our community, locally or worldly.
Handed down recipes.
A hand held and a shoulder leaned on when experiencing anything with my LOVE. —Happy Anniversary, Babe!💜💞🥰💖
A song that takes you back decades and the smile that takes rise.
Catching up with old friends.
Love
Grace.
Forgiveness.
This writing, thinking the arrival of a thankful season would be all-inspiring and, the counter to that, how to include a sampling of the infinite things for which I am thankful for in just 30 spots, wasn’t as easy I had envisioned. I found myself often unsatisfied with this list. Was I fairly giving thanks where thanks needed to be given, and such? Then, with the several epiphanies I had, it was a challenge to ‘contain’ my thankful list. Saying my ‘cup runneth over’ is an understatement. Wow! For that, I am also thankful.
In this writing process, which really was a look internally at what moves me externally, I found myself wanting to focus on tears, whether by sadness, through laughter, or shear wells of loving those moments. The older I get, the more tears that flow. They accompany ANY emotion nowadays. Though, I have been two sides of the emotional coin: no tears at all or a raging gush that takes some doing to cap off. Oh, it could be menopause, for sure! For me, tears could be held in with incredible strength and self-control, or they could be let loose with the allowing freedom to be sentimental.
Being raised in the openness of Montana, and often at the ranch or farm of grandparents, I learned quickly that our tears needed to be given permission to fall, and sparingly. What a struggle that is for an empath. I could cry over the demise of a Lady Bug, or the lonesome bawling of a calf separated from its mother, and I could wail over the death of a beloved dog, or the emergency arriving after the trampling of our grandmother, or my little sister. And, deeper still, I could cry for years over the abuses of cousins by their parents, of siblings by cousins, of myself by parents, and so on, and on.
Now, this sure feels like it went from what I’m thankful for to what I am pained over. Yet, and it may seem strange to some, I am grateful for how those times of tears gave me a compassionate heart, helped me to learn what to do and not to do with my own life, and brought me to the last of the three thanks—givings on my list: Love, Grace, and Forgiveness. Tears, it turns out, are multi-functional, coming in times of joy, in times of reminiscing, and in times of sorrow. The process of learning to let them fall, taught me how to be a person who gives thanks in times filled with love, give thanks when extending grace to ourselves and to those we may not think deserve it, and giving thanks when we come to a place of forgiveness for others and ourselves. Therefore, I am extremely thankful for the tears. Here, as well as during moments of happiness and wonder, I am thanks—giving.
My cup runneth over.
Thank you all for being here today! My bonus:
Readers and writers on Substack fill my heart. Y’all are PHENOMINAL!
Love Y’all!
Many blessings and MUCH LOVE,
~Wendy💜
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Love your top 30 list, beautiful reminders. I learned the power of my tears & never hold them back. Much love to you always ✨💜✨
Wendy, it’s been such a busy week for me—felt a bit chaotic at times! But I absolutely wanted to make time for one of your writings today, and I’m so glad I did. Thank you for reminding us of the power of gratitude and how much there is to appreciate every day.
Each night, when I tuck Zahara in, we share five things we enjoyed about the day, and I love hearing her reflections. Reading your post, I found myself picturing you and your life, too, through the way you express your gratitude.
Also, I have to try adding essential oils to tea—that’s never crossed my mind! Do you have any favorite oils to pair with specific teas? I’d love to give it a go.
Sending lots of love and wishing you a wonderful day!