What I Am Grateful for Today

What clothes bring you the greatest comfort? How do you thank them? Rupi Kaur’s Gratitude Writing Prompts

Clothes in general is what I would start with. I picture myself in some of the clothing my Native American ancestors wore, and I am grateful for the clothing in my closet today. This brings me comfort thinking about this.

Sometimes while working, my people would ask me if I was going to court because of how I dressed. For some it is a joke and for others that is the way they would dress for court. I am grateful that I will only have to dress like that if I go to court. It is comfortable but still not me.

My greatest comfort is nice-fitting jeans and T-shirts and a roomy sweatshirt. And I like wearing nightgowns that I put a sweatshirt over when I sit at my computer in the morning to write.

In working part-time, I continue to need some work clothes but not like I needed when working full-time. The clothes I wear for work now are comfortable. Like my everyday wear only with added jewelry and makeup.

It has been a while since I worked full time and I do need to replace some of my jeans especially. I have picked up some t-shirts and sweatshirts right along.

How do I thank them? I wash them regularly. I put them on hangers. I talk about how grateful I am for not having to wear ‘going to court’ clothing!

What material object are you grateful for and why? Rupi Kaur’s Gratitude Writing Prompts

Believe it or not, I would have to say technology. I would especially say my computer and smartphone. I am old enough to have used a typewriter. And before that wrote stories out in long hand. And I used shorthand.

Thankfully I can afford my computer and phone, so money is another material object. I have not suffered from not being able to feed myself. I can buy what I need. I have a washer and dryer that I am grateful for after spending a few hours at the laundry mat.

A person could truly go on and on. I am grateful for having a recliner in my living room, an office in my spare bedroom, and a kitchen with all the gadgets I want to use. Both a refrigerator and freezer. Electricity and heat. A home and ‘all the comforts of home’ as the saying goes.

In my darkest moments, I am grateful for my loved ones because _____. Rupi Kaur’s Gratitude Writing Prompts

My husband has been there with me from the beginning of my cancer fight. It is not over as I was told the cancer I have is treatable, probably not curable. Of course, after not having any positive cancer tests, since May of 2013, I want to believe it isn’t coming back.

Then I think back even further to my mother telling friends not to bring beer into the house when I was staying with her as I had quit drinking. She whispered, “Don’t bring that in here! Denise is trying to quit.”

Next, my two younger brothers came into a bar I was in. They saw my car parked there. They thought I was drinking, and I wasn’t. I was there to support another sober woman I sponsored who played in a band. She said she had some trouble at places she used to drink at.

When I asked what they would do if I were drinking, they said, “We would try to get you out of here.”

Then, a high school friend crying at a meeting I attended, pointed at me when she saw me and cried all the louder, “I knew you would be here!”

It took those three experiences to know that I had a problem. Without that, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me. I knew my husband, at the time, was the one with the problem. That was in 1980 and it was those loved ones that I am most grateful for.

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First published by Mercury Press on medium.com