albert einstein claimed he said it a hundred times a day.  i try to aim for just ten, but then i am not trying to create a unified field theory of the universe.  it is two wonderful words that are so powerful just saying the changes your day, your attitude, your life.  and today is made for those words.  well, i guess every day is.

the words are thank you.

thanksgiving is a november american holiday that commemorates the safety and security of early settlers in massachusetts. it has come to be a holiday of saying thank you for all our blessings but sometimes it is considered a holiday of eating too much turkey, of being with contentious relatives, and the opening bell on christmas shopping.

i’m not particularly good at prayer.  i never know what to say to God and i’ve never particularly thought that God was talking to me.  rosaries make me fall asleep.  when a priest intones a prayer at church, i start to fidget.  and when anybody wants to hold hands and pray with me, my hands get sweaty.

but i have stumbled upon a way that i can pray just like albert einstein did.  i say thank you.  i’m not quite sure who i’m thanking but i figure they know who they are.  so every morning i write down ten things i am grateful for.  today my list is

my sons joseph and eastman, my ex-husband stephen, bright red lipstick, diet coke, the pink highlights in my hair, the neighbor making me tacos last night, my facebook friend reggie serving in afghanistan, my garmin gps because i get lost everytime i visit facebook friends, the furnace working, my mini coup, a somewhat inappropriate text that made me blush but was utterly flattering, the gal who works the counter at caribou because i am not good at seven a.m. and the raspberry latte she recommends, the fog opening up to sunshine, my new socks, paper white lilies

weirdly, i’m grateful to facebook and to wordpress for the opportunity to meet new people, make friends, see those friends, and then express what i feel and think about those friends.

today i have dinner with my ex-husband and my sons.  it is written into our divorce agreement that we share thanksgiving, christmas, mother’s day and father’s day.  i am already exchanging texts and messages of thanksgiving with friends (i will work on this all day and never get to every friend)  and of course, this being the modern age, i will post a facebook thanksgiving message.

this is t!he one day of the year i wish i had a twitter account because i would just say “thank you” which is quite a bit shorter than the 140 characters the medium allows

and you?  i just want to say thank you for reading.  okay, i might have gone over my ten things.

we’re entering a strange season of excess: thanksgiving an excess of eating, christmas an excess of gift giving and new years an excess of champagne. not that i’m complaining about any of that because they’re all good!