Grateful - My Word of the Year

I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

the colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do

but they're really saying I love you.

I hear babies cry, and I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll ever know

and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Songwriters George David Weiss and Robert Thiell; sung by Louis Armstrong

What is behind my think today? I've contemplated what word to use for the year. Last year I used the word "finish," and it was a good word. I finished Yorkshire, the first chapter of my family history project. I finished several doilies, and thanks to my word, in all but one instance, I finished one before I began another. That was because I needed to make a wedding gift, which took precedence over my current project. 

I thought about declutter, and decided that is better left as a goal. I started decluttering on New Years Day. I sat on the floor of E's bedroom and reviewed the contents of the closet floor. I threw away a few things, reorganized others, and looked at some things, such as a newspaper clipping, that I had no recollection of. It's neater, if nothing else. 

I thought about thrive. I saw someone else use that, but I thought, how would I measure that?

And then, I thought of the negativity I read in my Facebook scroll yesterday morning. The new year is still in it's infant stage, but the baggage of the past year is slipping in already. 

I am determined to be grateful. My head is not totally in the sand; that would be absurd. But I thought about how the negativity affects my mood and I don't need a steady diet of it. I will be grateful. I am thankful for those who spread gratitude on Facebook. I acknowledge that our government is not perfect; that our health care is in jeopardy; that our freedoms are curtailed. At the moment, I cannot visit my mother. That concerns me. But to go on and on about it - well, if that's what others want to do, okay for them. I'll only tolerate so much of it, and will definitely utilize the 30-day vacations that Facebook provides. If  people can't shake virtual hands and say a friendly how do you do once in a while, and post some nurturing memes rather than a steady diet of critical ones, so be it. 

I will look for your smiles, even though they might be behind masks. I will try to empathize with your hurts and concerns.

I will continue to look for beauty, for it's still there. I see it in the many positive posts I see. I see it on my walks and drives to the country. 

I located an event in my historical googling of an outbreak of malignant dysentery on one street in Stamford in 1745, and did a study of it. Some seventy people died that summer and fall, and as the population at the time was about fifteen-hundred, and as everyone pretty well knew each other and most were related to some of the deceased, it must have been horrific. I did not lose an ancestor in my direct line to this outbreak, but I did lose people of collateral lines. I have a book about diseases of children written in 1881, and in it the author/doctor talked about the need for cleanliness, sterility, and quarantine. [A Treatise on Diseases peculiar to Infants and Children, by W. A. Edmonds, MD, published in 1881.]We now know that people had to mask during the flu epidemic after WWI. My daughter and all Taiwanese citizens all carried a mask in their purse or pockets way before Covid, and put it on at the first sniffle. I will not defy health laws, even if I'm unhappy about them. I will not growl about them. I am committed to this.

I am grateful that I am vaccinated from polio, smallpox, tetanus, etc. I am grateful that, although it is not wiped out, malignant dysentery is not common. I studied it. It is awful. I am grateful for my Covid -19 shots, even though they have proven to be more of a lessening of symptoms and seriousness than a deterrent. I have made hundreds of masks - some of you own one or thirteen. I wish I could see my Mum but I understand that she is in a place and a category of vulnerability, and nursing and special care homes must take precautions. I saw, in August, how easily my grandson picked up a head cold in an airport, and as he is too young for the vaccine, I understand his parents' concerns.

If, on my Facebook, I post something growly, I'll likely soon remove it, but if I don't, send me a nudge. I am determined to be grateful, and to make my personal Facebook a pleasant place to visit and set a spell. You might even learn a historical thing or two.

I love watching WTS grow and accomplish and learn. I love love love his big, wide grin that he inherited from his granddaddy V. Sorry, I cannot show you. He is not to appear on social media. 

Photo of the rose taken at the cottage in October, 2021.