Grateful

Necklace I made for my grandma

I've made a friend recently.  I have several personality traits that can make me hard to be around, so I'm grateful for every new friend.

One day when I helping out at a local assisted living center, a patient showed the CNA one of her necklaces, it was broken, and she wanted it fixed.  I observed that it was a really easy fix, and told her that I would bring my jewelry pliers next time I came.

Well, it turned out that a lot of her jewelry was broken.

Luckily, I adore making and fixing jewelry.

The next time I came we sat for several hours.  She organized her jewelry, and set aside the things that needed fixing, and I repaired what I could (considering I had only brought my mini pliers).

While we sat we talked.  Her body betrays her, but you can tell that her regrets cause a lot more pain than her physical body does.  She has made a lot of changes in her life, but you can tell she feels like they came too late.  Her children blame her for a lot of their problems, and you can tell she agrees with them.  They openly shame and reject her for her earlier choices, and she feels like she deserves the way they treat her.

She is trying, despite her struggles, and that's what makes her beautiful to me.

When you're a teen you live by the idea that it is your life, YOLO (you only live once), etc.  I'm sure that everyone made decisions as a teen that they now regret (I know I did).  However, despite my devious desires, I had people around me who cared about me, and helped me to nurture values that kept me from straying as far as I might have.  I'm so grateful that I don't have the same burden of regrets as my new friend.


I'm not very good at remembering to say my morning or nightly prayers, but if I wake up especially grumpy, I'll say a quick and heartfelt prayer asking my Heavenly Father to help me notice all the blessings in my life.  Then as the day progresses, I'll say little prayers of gratitude for the things I've noticed.  This is one of those things.