Year End Gratitude Moments – by Cara Potapshyn Meyers

During the month of November, many people started sharing “gratitude” posts on Facebook, in honor of giving “thanks” since Thanksgiving is an important November holiday. Although many people started their gratitude posts, slowly many dwindled. Some came more sporadically. I understood. I had tried to do the same many times in past years. This year, though, I made it! I accomplished finding thirty days of gratitude in my life!

It is important to remember what is important to you. What makes you smile. Or your heart swell. We need to be conscious of the good that we have and when possible, share it with others!

I would like to share some of my Facebook posts from November. I titled them, “Gratitude Moments.” Some are touching, some silly, some may resonate with you.

Here is a sampling of what I have been grateful for this year:

Gratitude Moment Day 1: Ok…I’m going to try this and see if I can get to 30 things to be thankful for…

November 1 starts 30 days of gratitude…Today I am very thankful for the fact that my child hates all candy because I have 400 pieces lying around, lol! I’m also thankful that even during hard times, there is always something to be thankful for!

Gratitude Moment Day 4: I am so grateful that I have power so that a second family can be saved from this unbelievable situation {Hurricane Sandy}. But I am also grateful that I have candles to light, in memory of the demise of our sweet Lama Lou dog, one year ago today. May God bless her in Doggie Heaven. We love you sweetheart…

Gratitude Moment Day 7: I am so grateful to have such a spectacular puppy {Maxi}! This dog is beyond amazing. He doesn’t understand why all of these people are “disrupting” his “schedule,” however he greets everyone with his good natured kindness and is relishing all of the attention he is getting. He is beyond my favorite companion! I am so blessed to have him in my life!!

Gratitude Moment Day 10: Since one of the families I was hosting was able to go back to their home, I was able to have Brandon, my precious Angel, come back home from staying at my FILs!!!! I am so grateful he is back home and am ecstatic! As grateful as I am to help others, home is not really home without your family!!! Must go hug my son now!!!

Gratitude Moment Day 14: Today I am grateful for friends…all of my friends! FB friends, casual friends, close friends, new friends, old friends…they all play such an important role in my life that most are unaware of. Especially my BFF Lau and her entire family! They have embraced my son and me like true family to the point that my son truly thinks that their kids are his “real cousins!” You absolutely can’t get much closer than that! Hugs and love to all of you!!!

Gratitude Moment Day 17: Today I am grateful for things I take for granted. While I was in services with my son last night, he laid his head on my upper arm. Then all of a sudden, he sat up, felt my arm and stated,”Mommy, your arms are flabby.” No one heard us, so I whispered that some Mommy’s upper arms are flabby so that their children would have a soft spot to rest their heads. Although flabby, at that moment I was grateful to have arms for my child to rest his head on. After the service, a group of women older than me commented that my son was adorable, handsome and resembled me quite a lot. I had to agree and was thankful that I have eyes to see what these women saw and hands to caress my son’s precious face. Later on, in the middle of the night, my dog woke me, crying to go out…3 times. Although I grumbled, I was grateful to have ears to hear him and legs to walk him outside. I am tremendously grateful to have all of my senses and appendages to use and be used. Even if some parts need a little more exercise than others! 

Gratitude Moment Day 20: Today is a very special day because of it’s number. Not only because I made it through 2/3 of a month in gratitude. But today I am glad I have cousins in Michigan who found me through FB! And as of this coming May, there will be 20 of them!!! I love them all like family, even though I’ve never met them in person! From Grandma Pearl all the way down to the waiting to be born Angels in December and May! I truly love each and every one of them!!! I wanted to visit them for Thanksgiving because I am so thankful I have them in my life, but, unfortunately it just didn’t work out. There is always summer…..!!♥

Gratitude Moment Day 26: Today I am grateful that when I do a random act of kindness, another one, at a later time, is typically returned to me!

Gratitude Moment Day 29: Today I am grateful that not only are the Holidays coming, but I have the blessed joy of seeing them through my child’s eyes! You really can’t fully enjoy the Holidays until you see them as a child does!

Gratitude Moment: Day 30!! Wow! I actually made it through all 30 days without missing a single one! I have tried to do this in the past, but never succeeded! I am very grateful that I set my mind to find 30 things to be grateful for and I completed my mission! Looking back at all of the wonderful things that have made me grateful, two will always stand out in my mind. My precious son and my sweet Maxi! They both make me proud and special to be their Mom as I learn more and more from each of them every single day! They both bring me more joy than they are aware, they make my heart swell with love and pride, and they both will forever be the loves of my life! THEY are what I am MOST grateful for!! ♥

 Hoping all of our readers find what they are grateful for this New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Tags: altruism, cousins, Dog, family, friends, gratitude, holidays, son