To be perfectly honest, writing this blog has been kind of hard. On most days, I’ve known exactly who I’ve wanted to thank. Inspiration has come in the form of a compliment or a funny experience. Maybe a grown man wearing a denim onesie or a monkey shaped child leash. Possibly a poop joke or a store that sells both candy necklaces and ninja stars. But then other days, I’ve struggled, staring at my computer screen and scanner thinking: “Uh, who should I thank today?”
In reality, the hard thank-you-writing posts are the ones that have probably been the most beneficial to me. I mean, for the last 357 days, I’ve HAD to be thankful for something. But not just the same thing — because that would have been easy. I’m thankful for my family and friends every day. But rather it’s forced me to take stock of all the unconsidered goodness in my life that extends past the obviously wonderful things like my husband, baby, parents, brother, friends, etc., etc., etc.
Mustering up some sort of casual appreciation every day has, in a way, acted as an exercise in positive thinking. Or, since I’m not really a religious person (I say prayers with Ollie every night but that basically consists of us screaming, “AMEN!” at the top of our lungs and “God Blessing” every single person with whom he’s ever come into contact), I could consider this blog to be a pseudo-prayer for me. Like I’m thanking the universe for some sort of daily good fortune.
And over the past year — what good fortune I’ve had! I started back to work after year plus hiatus of being a stay-at-home mom (even just a monthly magazine column feels good to put out), Grey and I got pregnant with our second baby (and we’re ALMOST at the finish line!), Ollie’s grown into a healthy two-year-old-wild-child, and we’ve moved to a charming town we love (zero commute, beach picnics, and where the local grocer knows my name). I have to in some ways think part of all this goodness is due to my thank yous. Maybe I’ve read The Secret one too many times, but I think positive thinking can do some amazing things!
So for the days I’ve sat thinking, at 11:45pm, “Uhhhhhh….who should I write to tonight?” – thank God for random bloggers, People.com, books, magazines, newspapers, Wikipedia, and CNN for thank-you fodder!
Sometimes, inspiration for thank yous comes SO easily. Like this picture I saw today of a family wearing matching Christmas pajamas. This could be a thank you in and of itself -- it's that bizarrely hilarious that it inspires gratitude in me immediately. But other times, writing these letters has been harder and I've had to rack my brain and search everywhere for a note idea.
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Tags: "Who should I thank?", being grateful for the little things, blog fodder, don't forget to appreciate the small stuff, getting pregnant easily with our second baby, good fortune, Gratitude blog, Hanna Andersson and matching Christmas jammies, Hanna Andersson makes some seriously lame kid clothes, harnessing the power of positive thinking, hilarious old men, making good things happen, Naked Thanks, positive thinking, pseudo prayer, screaming "AMEN!", self help books, thank you note ideas, The Secret, wild child, writing thank you notes