Thanks giving

I went to Whole foods today to pick up a few special, but pricey items for my contribution to the meal. The man in front of me in the check out lane was an older man, maybe 65, thin and noticeably hunched over in clean work clothes. He politely explained to the cashier that he had a gift card from a neighbor in exchange for yard work. He didn't know how much it was for, but could pay cash for the rest. His cash total was $60. I didn't pay any attention to what he bought, but it all fit in one bag. That's not hard in Whole Foods. He was obviously disappointed that the gift card was of a smaller amount and slowly peeled off what looked like well worn dollars from his wallet. It took a while. I thought very seriously about paying his bill, but you know, some people can be offended with things like that.

I have wondered how things would have turned out if I would have offered. I was reminded of a sermon from a favorite book, “Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us."

I hope everyone has a thankful Holiday and a giving opportunity. Best I can do for a Holiday wish.

Aww, that us hard. But Whole Foods. Pricey.

DH is sad because the Save A Lot store here in town closed. The owners retired. It is the opposite of .whole Foods. I didn’t go to save a lot, I went to the other, normal, grocery store here in town.

Very thankful as recently my son resumed contact with me.

Happy for you Yppej!!

Jeppy, so happy to hear that.

Great story, Rogar, and great food for thought. I have always been grateful to those in my life who did just jump in and either offered to help, or just did help. As for myself, I usually err on the other side, unfortunately. I'm too afraid of offending.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I’ve thrown in a a few dollars sometimes over the years when people were short, if it was a senior or mother with young kids. Case by case basis. You can often tell by looking if someone is having a hard go at life. I just dug it out and handed it to the cashier before the other person realized what was going on. They always said thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. As for the "giving", I'm never quite satisfied with my efforts in this area. I need to do better.

That's good news, Jeppy. I hope the two of you are able to rebuild a happy, healthy relationship.

Rogar & Catherine: I've often missed out on the opportunity to do a kindness due to shyness and/or worry about causing offense. I found that the Happiness Lab/Science of Wellbeing course helped me with that because at one point there was a challenge to do a certain number of acts of kindness in a certain time period, so it helped give me a nudge. Then it felt good enough that it has encouraged me to do this type of thing more often going forward.

I always liked the idea of a holiday based on simple gratitude. Not a struggle session about “settler colonialism”. Not a gateway to Christmas shopping. Not even a day in the NFL calendar. Just simple gratitude.

We are eating a few things from our garden, including cherries from the bottom of the freezer from the year 2005. But they look good in the pie.