SCC? Thanksgiving Thoughts

[Guest guest]

I emailed this to Nashville's The Tennessean late last night,

but wanted to share it with you all. No matter what our circumstances,

we can always find something to be thankful for --

To the Editor:

For the majority of my life, I was never really grateful for what I

had. It was never "enough." I didn't make enough money, I wasn't

pretty enough, I wasn't talented enough, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

At Thanksgiving every year, I murmured my perfunctory "thanks -- at

least I have my health, and that's all that matters," and so on . . .

I suspect everyone knows the drill. I said it because it was the

proper thing to say, but I never really gave it much thought.

Now I am giving it plenty of thought, because I no longer have it. I

should have given thanks for being able to wake up pain-free and stay

that way all day long. I should have given thanks for being able to

drive myself anywhere I wanted to go, instead of needing someone to

cart me around or run my errands. I should have given thanks for being

able

to laugh out loud without getting a splitting headache that

incapacitates me for the rest of the day. I should have given thanks

for being able to walk from here to there without the fear of hitting

the floor. I should have given thanks for the blessing of being

healthy and "normal."

This may all seem like small stuff, but trust me -- it's the small stuff

that really hits you when it disappears. I never knew how very lucky I

was, how very blessed I was, to be leading a relatively normal life.

Until these things are taken from you, you really have no clue what it

is like not to have them.

So, this Thanksgiving, I humbly ask all of your readers to search their

souls and be grateful for all the "small stuff" that most people

probably never even think about. As for me, I will be giving thanks

that things are not worse than they are. Plenty of people have it

worse than I do. This Thanksgiving, I will also be giving thanks that

I have

friends and family who care about me and take care of me. Unfortunately, not everybody has that luxury.

Most of all, I will be giving thanks that my eyes have been opened,

however painfully, to the realities in this life. I will pray that it

makes me a better person because of it, and that I will be able to use

this life lesson for good.

Better late than never, this Thanksgiving I will pay special attention

to what I do have to be grateful for. I wish I had known enough to be

grateful a few years earlier, but thankfully, I know now.

Sharon Palmer

shron62@...

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!! I give thanks every day for having

found such a wonderful, giving, loving group of people!! {{{{Thanksgiving Hugs}}}}