HOW OFTEN DO YOU DO THIS? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 123

Living a thankful life can make each day joyful, each burden lighter, each relationship better, and relieve the stress that plagues so many of us these days. With all the trouble in the world today it is too easy to think only of what is wrong in our lives.  I know it is easy to be bogged down with unhappy thoughts, angry reactions, bitter feelings, and despair over things that are not as we want them to be.  In spite of these things, however, there is one thing each of us can do to help ourselves.

Being thankful is not just for religious people, but it is for all people.  I truly believe that every person can find things each day for which to be thankful.  Beauty, music, art, nature, and kindness are available to all of us at no cost so even the poorest of the poor can enjoy them.  Family, friends, work, health, opportunities, and so many other things to be thankful for are truly blessings.

Today's message is:

COUNT BLESSINGS!

Thankful and Thanksgiving Day

For those who celebrate Thanksgiving Day, I hope you had a wonderful day with family, friends or volunteering.  This is the first time in a long time I did not cook Thanksgiving dinner, but this year I was not up to it.  I am feeling much better but seem to not have regained my energy and stamina yet.

I opted to make a reservation at my favorite restaurant and treated my cousin and my adorable 93-year old neighbor to dinner.  The food was delicious, and we all enjoyed it.  I did cook the next evening though for the three of us.  My neighbor's daughter-in-law had caught fresh wild salmon in Washington, and offered to provide it for dinner.   I marinated it in Sesame Ginger sauce, grilled it on a cedar plank, and it was delicious if I do say so myself.  We all ate too much on both evenings but enjoyed every morsel.

My son and his family live in Japan which is too far away to visit for the weekend.  My daughter normally is here for Thanksgiving weekend, but a new job  required her to stay in New York.  My cousin lives in a suburb of Los Angeles but joins us in the desert for the holidays each year.  She did a great job of putting the lights on my Christmas tree since that is something my daughter always has done for me and one more thing I am not yet up to doing for myself.  Slowly I will get the ornaments put on it, but the lights are a real chore so I am grateful to her for her assistance.

We did take time on Saturday to go to the movies where we saw  Lincoln,  and it deserves all the great reviews it is getting.  Daniel Day Lewis should win an Oscar for his superb portrayal of Lincoln.  Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones were also outstanding as were so many other actors and actresses whose names are too numerous to mention here.  If you have not seen the film, I hope you will have an opportunity to do so.  Even if you are not a history buff you will still enjoy the film I think.  I am not a history buff at all, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This year my family and I especially have so much for which to be thankful, and I try to be grateful each day and not just on Thanksgiving Day.   I know sometimes I fall short of that goal, and my vow is to try to do better in the months ahead.  There are so many people in this world who are in harsh situations, and by comparison I know I am blessed and more fortunate.  I hope I will continue to remember that daily and do whatever I can to help others.

What about you?  Are you fortunate or unfortunate?  Are you grateful or ungrateful?  I would very much like to hear from you as to what you are thankful for or as to what your misfortune may be.  Thanks for taking time to read today's post.

Summer 2012

Summer 2012 has been filled with ups and downs, and I am so grateful for the "ups" in my life.  After my lung cancer surgery I am cancer free...........no chemo...........no radiation...........just five years of follow-up with my oncologist.  Knowing that the surgeon was able to remove all of the cancer is definitely a huge "up" in my life.  

Another really significant "up" is my only grandchild's recovery from a very scary experience.  He and his parents came from Tokyo to visit me.   I am always thrilled to see them since we are separated by so many miles.  My son and grandson were to take a side trip to Texas, and shortly after the plane departed my grandson experienced tremendous pain in his back and shoulder.  On board were a doctor, a paramedic, and a nurse, but no one had any idea what was wrong with him (no one had a stethoscope) so he was given oxygen for the remainder of the flight and advised to go to the nearest urgent care facility upon arrival at DFW Airport.  Urgent Care doctors could not determine what was wrong with him but, thankfully, decided to take a chest x-ray which revealed one of his lungs was partially collapsed.  An ambulance ride to the nearest hospital emergency room followed, a chest tube was inserted and he was admitted to the hospital.

After a week of being unable to get his lung to remain inflated on its own, he underwent almost the same surgery I had just had weeks earlier.  He was in the hospital for 13 days and then remained in Texas for two additional weeks waiting to be released to fly (not only back to the desert where I live but back to Tokyo).  We were all very relieved when they made it safely back to Tokyo last weekend with no problems of any kind.

My grandson is close to six feet tall at age 16, and he is extremely thin.  The doctors who treated him said that he had spontaneous pneumothorax which is not uncommon in teenage boys and young men who are very tall and thin. Spontaneous pneumothorax is a collection of air or gas in the space between the lungs and the chest that "collapses" the lung and prevents it from inflating completely.  They cannot predict when it happens or what if anything precipitates the collapse of the lung, but I can assure you it is a very scary experience for the patient and family.  

My grandson is doing well and this week started his junior year in high school. I too am feeling well and looking forward to Fall and Winter 2012.  Despite a long absence from my blog and on-line shops I very much appreciate all of you who continued to read posts and visit both shops www.malcolmfortots.etsy.com and www.malcolmfortots.com

My family and I have been truly blessed and are thankful for the outcome of this memorable summer.

What The World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love

Happy Valentine's Day! Perhaps some of you remember the song What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of....... When I see all of the Valentine cards, flowers, candies, toys, and jewelry displayed on line, in print, and in brick and mortar stores I must admit I smile and think love is a wonderful thing. It is what makes life worthwhile. If you are fortunate enough to have someone to love and someone who loves you, be thankful. If you have children to love who love you, be thankful. If you have friends and neighbors to love who also love you, be thankful. Love should be a 24/7 thing 12 months a year so don't forget to keep spreading love even after Valentine's Day. It will make the world a better place for everyone with whom you come in contact.