Being Thankful

No photos today, no pretty pictures to look at.  Grandma-ma has words and feelings to share about being thankful. 

Gratitude (or thankfulness), as defined in the dictionary, is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.   Expressing gratitude, being thankful for what you receive from those who love you are important parts of life.   When you receive a gift it's because the gift giver is thinking about you.  That you will enjoy the gift, that it will make you smile, bring laughter or enhance your life, and that you are cared about by the gift giver.   

Gift giving is not an obligation, saying thank you is.

When you take the time to create something special for someone, or purchase an item that you know will make the receiver happy, you are as excited about giving that gift and hearing about how happy the person is who received it.    You feel this way because you care about the person.  It hurts when you don't hear from the person you sent a gift to.

Grandma-ma also understands how busy everyones lives are...but guess what?  Grandma-ma's life is just as busy.  She works full time, she manages three booths at a store, she takes care of Grampy, Kota and Atlas, and she tries to be a good grandma-ma to 6 wonderful grandchildren.  

 It's not just about grandma-ma, though, it's about all friends and family members.  When you don't say thank you for a gift given from the heart for  birthdays, holidays or just because someone is thinking of you, it hurts.  It hurts deeply because it is a rejection by someone you love.  It says that you don't care about the gift or the gift giver and don't bother sending anything further, because the giver is not important.  Is that the message that you are sending to the giver? 

We are very fortunate to live in a time of great communication tools.  Cellphones and emails and IMs...so many ways to say thank you.

It's such a simple and easy thing to do, pick up the cell phone and call the gift giver.  We want to hear from you because we love you and we care about you and you are important to our hearts.  We even enjoy the voicemail message of joy you leave on the phone.  Did you know I save many of them to listen to them over and over again because they give me such joy to hear your giggling voices.   I am thankful for each of you because I love you and miss you and wish I could be nearer to all of you.  Another reason why hearing you say thank you for a gift given is so precious to me.