Be Gracious and Grateful

My mother had, all through my growing up years, reminded us to "be Gracious".  I would jokingly most of the time say "I am gracious that I am not....(that person, that issue, etc)"

gra·cious

ˈɡrāSHəs/

adjective

1. 1.

   courteous, kind, and pleasant.

   "smiling and gracious in defeat"

   synonyms:

   courteous, polite, civil, chivalrous, well mannered, mannerly, decorous; More

My mother was asking for me to have grace - be gracious and kind (teenage girls are often not kind and yes I am guilty of unkindness as well).  It has not been until lately that I have REALLY understood that what she was really asking was that I also be grateful.  

Since the passing of my oldest son, I have struggled to be an upright human being and go forward and actually do anything.  As I said before "we are bad asses for getting out of bed"!  I have also done a lot of thinking about how to be gracious and grateful in a world where the meaning of everything has changed for me.

I work in a school where often the things my co workers do go unnoticed, or at least very unappreciated.  The children are more often than not ungracious.  I, more often than not, need a good reason to get out of bed in the morning and go to face them and try to be gracious with them.

My mother also taught me the importance of writing a good thank you note.  Hand written is best unless the circumstances are special and you can't do a handwritten one.

So I began a gratefulness project with my co-workers and some others who have helped me to get up every day and find something to be thankful for.

I am not done with it yet, but eventually each of my co-workers and those other special folks will receive a hand written thank you note from me letting them know why I am grateful to have them in the world and thanking them for helping me to get up every day.

Some days I get three or four done, and sometimes I dont get any done.  But each day I think about my co-workers and friends and I think about why I am grateful for them.  I am not doing the easy ones first, nor the hard ones - some ARE easier than others, but I am going in alphabetical order with my co -workers.  For each of them there is something about them that makes me feel gracious and grateful.  I think for some of them it will be weird, but sometimes it's weird for people anyway - they don't know how to treat me and they really dont know what to say sometimes.  Sometimes my gratefulness might be perceived as a bribe maybe of some type, or a cry for help.  It is not any of those things.  Just my way of having reasons to get out of bed and face the day and the building full of ingrates. :)