Looking for the Thankful and Finding It

Well, we made it. Not without two trips to the doctor’s office, but without any major catastrophic or debilitating disease or maiming. As of today we again join the ranks of the health insured. Just another thing on the long list of things to be thankful for.

Speaking of thankfulness, this Thanksgiving Day was not as remarkable as Easter when my husband decided to eat cat food. There were, however, a few memorable moments, as is practically unavoidable when my family is together in the same space.

Firstly, my poor mother, while frenetically running around the kitchen trying to make sure that everything stayed hot, accidentally dumped the turkey drippings that were intended for gravy down the drain whilst she skimmed the fat from the pan. This was in large part due to the fact that she was wanted on the phone. Multi-tasking is not one of her strong points.

Secondly, was the moment when my cold-ridden son sneezed all over the side of his Granddad’s face during prayer. It was a pretty wet and slimy sneeze as most of his sneezes are when the boogies of doom are attacking his body. All told, it didn’t seem to bother Granddad too much; his appetite was just as hearty as everybody else’s once he cleansed his face of it.

Unfortunately for me, I had an appointment at the dentist a few days before the holiday. Appointments at the dentist are always unfortunate. Who wants to spend large sums of money so that a dentist or dental hygienist can stretch one’s mouth into shapes it is not supposed to make and use sharp pointy metal sticks to scrape the enamel right off of one’s tooth. And then be forced to listen to a lecture on brushing gently. Right. But the professional is allowed to abrade the payee’s teeth with a piece of metal that could have been a rusty nail in another life.

When I visit the dentist, especially in the winter months, all the stretching, pulling, and flossing tend to make the corners of my mouth chap and ultimately split open. By the time the day for eating large mounds of food rolled around my lip was in pretty bad shape. Especially in the right corner region.

Every time I opened my mouth to put something yummy into it, the lip emitted a soundless plea (which I ignored) and tugged, pulled, and cracked open again. It was a tad uncomfortable. But all of this reminded me of something else that I am thankful for: chapstick. If one persists on looking for the bright side it can almost always be found.

Your Character Is Showing!

Some days I need to ask God to help me be grateful. There are days when being grateful is easy, but, for me, dealing with unexpected expenses sometimes requires me to force gratefulness upon myself. It always helps during trials like these for me to remind myself that at least the money is there to pay these bills; I don’t have to sell my plasma or go to work in a sweatshop. But really, I would much rather go to a five-star restaurant and spend two hundred dollars for a stellar meal instead of having to spend that money on medical care that wasn’t any fun at all.

I called my girlfriend to see how her husband is feeling: he has been in a lot of pain over the last week with a kidney stone. She made the mistake of asking me how I was doing, so she had to listen to a ten-minute diatribe about the finer points of medical insurance (like she needed to be further stressed out). I don’t do this with just anybody, but when you’ve known a person your entire life they tend to get the good with the bad in there too. The baby has developed a fascination with the cats’ water bowl and in the middle of my serious phone conversation I turned just in time to see her doing the breaststroke in their spilled drinking water. It is difficult to strip a baby out of wet pajamas, dry the toddler’s wet feet so he’ll stop begging frantically for them to be wiped, and carry on an angry rant all at the same time. Watching a baby attempt to swim on a damp floor is just too funny.

Thankfulness breeds contentment. I want to be happy. There are much, much worse things that can happen to a person. I have no control over when my body chooses to be sick or develop a chronic health problem. Nor do I have the authority to dictate the amount I would like be billed for services pertaining to my physical health and well-being. On the other hand, I can make the choice to look for the silver lining and thank God that he not only has the ability to take care of me, but that he chooses to do so because of his unfailing love for me. If I think on that I may even be able to smile while writing out those big checks.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.” Psalms 34:8-9