Tag: gratitude

Gratitude

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

Everywhere I’m seeing how we need to be grateful and thankful.  It’s that time of year with the US celebrating Thanksgiving.  I saw an article where some celeb gave away 1000 turkeys for the holiday – my first thought was where was this celeb the rest of the year since poor people need food year round.  This was harsh of me as it is possible the celeb does help out year round but with the holiday it got noticed.

I’m not going to lecture about being grateful etc.  It’s everywhere and nothing I have to say will mean much.  I do want to acknowledge though that everyone can get focused on the me-centric aspect of life.  Everyone struggles and sometimes the struggles overwhelm to the point where you forget to see how others are struggling.  All you can see is how hard your own life is.

I’m not a holiday person.  I find most of them annoying and shallow.  The only good thing about them is I usually get a day (or two) off work.  However, I like the idea of a holiday where people are supposed to remember the good things in their lives.

Today is one of my nieces’ birthday.  My daughter’s birthday is tomorrow.  These events remind me how blessed I am to have these strong and amazing women in my life.  I know they’ve learned lessons from me but I’ve also learned from them.  They’ve helped me be humble, silly, loving, and so much more.

There are struggles in my life, sometimes I feel like life is only a struggle.  However, I know I can rely on those nearest to me to help me see past the struggle of the moment and into the good things.  This is what I’m most grateful for – the people who matter in my life.  You know who you are…

The Big 5 – 0

by eileentroemel, posted in Life
I turned 50 today (sort of) and I know that the typical response is you poor thing.  I’ve heard from many women that getting older is so hard on them.  For me, I don’t get this.  The older I get the better I feel about myself and more confident I am. 
It may have taken me a while to get here but I like who I am and where I am in life.  Life is perfect and I’m grateful for those family members and friends who enrich my life. 
My daughters are incredible and amazing.  I may have stumbled through raising them but I don’t think I damaged them too much – relatively speaking.  Ken has been with me for more three fifths of my life.  He has supported me through all my ups and downs.  He is my best friend and dearest love. 
If this is my halfway mark (I can only hope) then I look back on the first half of my life and realize I’ve had a varied and interesting life.  I’ve had loss and difficulties for certain.  However, my life has been enriched with learning in all the best ways from people smarter and wiser than myself. 
In my teens I dreamed of traveling everywhere and doing all sorts of ridiculous things.  I’ve traveled in a different way.  I may not have gotten to backpack through Europe or explore the pyramids but I’ve had other – better – adventures.  Life is not just good… it is DAMN good!

Appreciation…

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

This last week has been difficult for me.  I’ve been made immobile by the attack of gout.  I’m still not overly steady on my feet and my foot gets painful when it is down.  Yet I have to look at this week and recognize all the people who helped me in different ways.

My daughter, sister, and husband have been very helpful and concerned as I struggled with the pain and other issues.  They helped me walk, fetched things, carted me places.  My daughter in particular – Vicki – has driven me to work, checked in to see what my pain level was at, pushed me in a wheel chair, and did the bulk of fetching for me. 
Other people also stepped up.  Several of my faculty at work asked after my situation, expressed concern and were pleased when I came back to work.  My Chair was very understanding about my absence even though it was the worst possible week for me to be MIA.  My student workers were my legs this week at the office.  It was little things like one faculty who told me that they missed me as well as the work I do.  It seems like a little thing – just words but those words warmed my heart and made me grateful to have such a good group to work with.

I appreciate all the support and caring I’ve received.  I think this is something we (in general) don’t pay attention to because we are all so busy with our lives.  My gout may have knocked me on my ass and kept me recliner bound but it didn’t stop me from noticing the stress it put on others.  Thank you to all those in my life who expressed concern and offered or gave assistance.  It didn’t go unnoticed and it helped in my healing process.