Complaining.
Complaint after complaint has filled my personal Facebook page. Sometimes, I have to talk myself out of deactivating for a while. A lot of good comes from Facebook too.
But the complaining. Sometimes, it’s too much.
Complaining because you don’t want to cook dinner? Really?
We received a letter from our sponsored child through Compassion last month. A letter that broke our hearts and gave us hope all rolled into one, written in a language we cannot read and then translated for us. Roger lives in the Dominican Republic. He thanked us for our family gift that we sent, which wasn’t much, but it was what we could give. He said that it allowed his mother to buy him a new shirt and a pair of pants.
A shirt and a pair of pants.
Do you get that!?
And personal products for his body, which I assume meant hygiene products that we take for granted every day- like soap.
And you want to whine because you don’t want to cook dinner?
Because you have refrigerator and cabinets full of food?
I understand, we all get tired and exhausted. We have hard days, but if all you have to complain about is that you don’t want to cook dinner for your healthy, clothed, taken-care-of family, then I’d say you are doing pretty damn good.
In full disclosure, I know that some of my feelings are coming from the fact that I haven’t been able to cook my own family dinner in over two weeks since I went down the slide and well, you know the rest of the story. I get that my feelings are coming from that, but you know what? I’m getting there and for now, I’m thankful for my family, my friends, and my amazing husband that hasn’t sat down since he came home. It’s 9:00PM as I’m typing this and he hasn’t sat down other than to shuck corn.
I’m certainly not complaining. I’m thankful for modern medicine, because if Roger had gone down that slide and ended up where I have? Well, he probably would not have gotten the care that I have.. and that makes me sad. So instead of complaining, I am grateful for recovery. I am grateful that I can share my recovery with y’all and on Facebook, even when FB drives me crazy.
Let’s be thankful together. Share your joy!
I invite you to leave a comment here with something you are thankful for. You can also hop over to the It’s Gravy, Baby! Facebook page and join in on the conversation or post on the wall there. I WANT to hear your good news and I want to celebrate with YOU!
That is a beautiful picture!!
Tonight I was thankful to make dinner. Sounds odd but Brian cooks for our family and he wasn’t feel well so I came straight home from work to cook dinner. It was good … Brian even ate it! (I normally cook the foods I like that he won’t eat!)
I’m glad you posted this! I try not to complain about things because I know we have it made. We are broke, and Alan is out of work, but we are very fortunate to have family that can help us out. Hopefully we can hurry and make it through school and get us standing on our own again. I also try to keep a bright, optimistic outlook on things. But I am also guilty of taking things for granted sometimes. I think we all do, and that’s why I’m glad you posted this. We need a reminder to be thankful for everything we have because there will always be someone less fortunate or going through a tougher time than us. I even celebrated not having to cook dinner tonight. :/ But I am so, so happy that tomorrow night I will be able to cook for my family again!
Roger probably doesn’t even get to slide, you know. There are times when I am ashamed of myself. I look in the cabinet and don’t like what I see and I get so ashamed because I know there are so many thousands of people who would love to have just one can of food from my pantry that I’m “not in the mood to eat tonight”. Thank you for this post. It is a reminder of all the things we take for granted every day. I am thankful to have food in my home, to have a home, to have air-conditioning, to have my children, all safe and sound, even when they are mad at me or don’t like me; even when my nerves are on the fringes of the end. I get ashamed then too, even though I know its natural, I get ashamed for wanting a quiet moment in the tub. Especially since you all lost Kolby, I have made sure never to let the little things take away from the grandeur of my precious children. I get upset easy sometimes (I am sure your Mom can testify to that) and the night I read your first post about Kolby- I was angry with my son over something small, something i can’t even recall now (homework maybe??). and when i read your post i realized how trivial it was and vowed to do better. I love my children unconditionally, from the moment I thought they existed to the day I cease to live. Today, that is what I am thankful for- my happy, healthy, fed, clothed, spoiled-with-too-many-toys children. and i am thankful that they are compassionate of others’ needs; and I am thankful for your eye-opening blog. You have a gift, Whitney, that you are using to touch many lives.
Thank you for this post! A couple of years ago I made it a project to stop complaining. It took many times catching myself and redirecting my train of thought but it was worth it. I still slip sometime, as humans do, but it was so liberating. I don’t gossip so with that and not complaining I am generally the quietest person in a group and I am a bit moreof an introvert now, but it gives me time to focus on my responses to questions and compassion towards others. I have unfriended many due to their complaining it was draining.
I have said it before and probably will again, you are truely an angel, sent to remind us of the important parts of life. It’s so refreshing to be able to read the thoughts of a selfless person.
I am thankful for having a job and a roof over my head. Healthy grown children and healthy grandchildren!!