Wednesday, November 23, 2011

What are you thankful for?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. This morning I heard a quote on the radio by Charlie Brown, something to the effect of 'Thanksgiving is the only national holiday where we give ourselves permission to be thankful'. Ironic, isn't it?

I know I have A LOT to be thankful for, but not just one day a year. I am thankful for all things, big and small. Big things like my health (being a 5 year cancer survivor), my marriage, my children, and that I have a job. While it may sound funny or petty, I'm also thankful for small things like 'earned freebies'. In a time when the price of just about everything seems to go up: utilities, health insurance, groceries, gasoline, etc., etc. I am thankful for all of those 'store freebies' (as I like to call them). CVS gives me 'extra bucks' when I buy my milk there. Kroger gives me 'fuel reward points' when I purchase my groceries that I can apply to gas for my car, not to mention the 'community reward' dollars that I earn for my favorite charity.

A local grocery store, VG's Grocery', also lets me earn 'YES Reward points' which I can save up and apply to highlighted products of the week. Last night I stopped there after work to pick up some dinner items. I was also purchasing a few things for a Thanksgiving veggie tray. It was such a pleasant thing to scan my carrots and celery and have the register ask me if I'd like them for free by redeeming some of my points. Sure ... you're probably thinking 'Geez, it was just celery and carrots. What's the big deal?' The big deal is that when a lot of people in our community could be struggling (stores & customers alike), I think it's great when a store publicly acknowledges their customers' needs in whatever way they can. It's called watching out for your fellow neighbor and that is not a small thing.

So, tomorrow when you're sitting around the dinner table with your family stop and remember all the things that you're thankful for. We can be thankful each and every day, but it wouldn't hurt us to say it out loud. It's easy to get caught up in all of the daily schedules and stresses and forget. I think we could all use a little reminding from time to time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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