Thankful Tuesday and Thursday November 2022

 

Tuesday 1 November:

I am going to do a Thankful Tuesday and Thursday for the month of November 2022. Since today is also Celtic New Year, I am starting off with grateful for Celtic Heritage. I enjoy Celtic music. Not going to listen to bagpipes all day long but do enjoy it at times. The myths and legends are interesting. The Rice family name was originally from Wales with spelling Rhys. Some moved north into Scotland and spelling got changed. Some eventually found their way to Nova Scotia and then to USA.

It is also booklovers day. I do enjoy reading. I am thankful for authors and them sharing their talent be it fan fiction or published. Mary Morgan writes about Celtic myths and warriors. Today would be good day to read one of her books. Have a great day!

Thursday 3 November:

Grateful for friends. Some come and help when have big project. Some are supportive long distance. Some are artists and authors and share their talents for good entertainment. Keep in contact with some more frequently than others. All are dear to me. Thank you for your friendship. Have a great day!

Tuesday 8 November:

Thankful to be able to vote in local and national elections. Not sure how honest the candidates are these days, but I do have confidence that the voting process is good. Here in Washington state you register when you get driver’s license and voting is all by mail. Easy. Safe. The ballot drop off box is close. I was getting some frozen desert and watched them pick up ballots for the primary. Looked secure to me.

I pray that all will be safe while voting - the people staffing the polling places, the voters, and those counting the ballots. 

Thursday 10 November:

Since tomorrow is Veterans Day it is fitting to be grateful for the heritage of serving in the military. My mother’s father and brother served after Pearl Harbor bombing. My father and his older brother also enlisted after Pearl Harbor. They all went into the Army or Army Air Corp. His younger brother eventually went into the Navy. One of my mother’s aunts was in the Marine Corp, I’m not sure of when she served. Two cousins went into the Marine Corp. My brother enlisted into the Army during Viet Nam War. I went into the Air Force a few years later. A grandnephew enlisted into the Air Force. Being military dependent was my first ‘tribe’ I felt I belonged in. That is the reason that one of my Facebook profile picture, including the current one, is the USAF tartan. [My two cousins and grandnephew and I are only ones still alive.]

Tuesday 15 November:

My faith and membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Faith and hope fluctuate, but always there no matter how small and flickering. It is so comforting to know no matter where I go when I find a church it will be the same meeting set up, same Sunday School lesson. There is an immediate community and help when needed and opportunities to be of service. I could not have made this move from San Jose to Sequim without the help of some members at both ends of move. My life would have been vastly different if I had not joined the Church back in 1974. My faith fits the doctrine of the Church. I have a testimony that Joseph Smith, Jr translated the Book of Mormon and restored the Church of Jesus Christ on earth. 

Thursday 17 November:

Reading The Book of Mormon changed my life. Reading Twilight changed my life. I had been depressed and numb for a long while before reading that first book in the saga. Reading that book I felt things that I hadn’t in long time. Thankful to Jill Juchau for loaning me the books. I’ve traveled and met people never would have. I’ve made friends. Reading it and coming to area gave me a place to retire to that feels like home. In round about way brings my life full circle since I was born in Tacoma area.

Tuesday 22 November:

Today I am especially gratefully for being a reader. I grew up with books. My parents read. My brother read. I read. When I was about 9 years old I would borrow my brother’s Tom Swift Jr books and that was my introduction to science fiction. Summers would be spent with at least weekly bike rides to the library. I would grab a volume of the encyclopedia set we had and just pick and choose sections to read. I could get lost reading about words from the dictionary. I confess to spending too much time reading on occasion. I like having a physical book to read, but for past few years digital copy with font size adjustments is nice. It is a joy to visit other places and times via a book. Science fiction and mysteries are my favorite and returning to those after too many years of almost only reading Twilight fan fiction. Fan fiction is wonderful. Fill in back story. Give a minor character a bigger part. Twist the characters a little and change the situation and see what happens. Delightful and amazing to read what authors come up with. Open your mind and read.

Thursday 24 November:

Grateful for lots of little things. Love of music. Can’t dance or sing or play an instrument, but I enjoy listening to music and those that can do those things need people in the audience. Love of nature and opportunities to get out and take pictures to share.

And big things like having a home, moving to the Pacific Northwest – specifically Sequim Washington. My faith and love of reading already mentioned along with friends. My health isn’t great, but I am still moving around on my own power. My calling as Relief Society Secretary.  

Happy Thanksgiving Day. May all be blessed with safe travels, good company, and good food.

Tuesday 29 November:

For this last entry I am grateful for the life I’ve had – good, bad, sad, ugly. Parents did the best they could. Military dependent life and my own military service gave me experience traveling and living in different places, including four years in other countries. Through the years I’ve met lots of different people in those places, lost track of most of them. Joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Left the military and became a pharmacist. Moved around in that career some. Active for a while in the Scottish community and science fiction con community in San Jose. Read Twilight. Retired and moved from California to Sequim Washington – in ways coming full circle as I was born in Tacoma area. Parts have been more interesting than others. Moved through too many years in a functional depressed state. I’m still here, grown older, not sure about wiser. Body doesn’t work like it use to and hard adjusting at times, but I’m still mobile. There is much to be grateful for – big, little, in between things. May God bless us all with peace, love, and joy.