Gratitude Moments

You know I am a lover of parties. Birthday parties, dinner parties, New Years Eve, even the occasional pity party.

I've been a little down lately so this morning while I was out for my morning run I thought about something a friend of mine recently talked about. She spoke of being grateful and giving thanks for every moment of everyday and finding the gratitude in EVERYTHING. Even not so great things. Especially the not so great things. Super hot day? Be grateful for the sunshine. Pouring rain? Be grateful for the plants.

I was about a 1/4 of the way into my run and noticed a blister on my heel was acting up - despite a band-aid, sock and different shoes. Darn! It stung with every step. How do I find a moment of gratitude in a painful blister?

Thoughts of my oldest son suddenly filled my mind. He is on a 10 day field training exercise while gone for a month (and I miss him terribly) at an ROTC Army Leadership course in Washington. He has been thru basic training and has done many a ruck hike (this means carrying your 50 lb ruck sack in full basic uniform and combat boots) that left his feet blistered, bleeding and sore. Once he had to do 12 miles in less than 3 hours. Suddenly, I was filled with gratitude for my teensy tiny blister. It made me realize a bit what he goes thru. And while I miss him so much, it made me feel a little closer to him even though he is 1500 miles away.

By the time I got home the blister had stopped hurting. I was grateful for that too.