July 22 – U

363/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me.  Wow, only 3 more gratitude posts left including this one!!  When I started this journey a year ago, I was a little nervous as to if I would have 365 people to thank.  I didn’t want it to come down to posts such as thanking my mailman for the flyers he delivers in that they were the ones that led me on to some awesome deal!! ; )  Early on in these posts, I started hearing from friends that so and so had made “the list”.  I didn’t understand what that was until I was told that it was my “gratitude list”.  That put some pressure on me to say the least as there was now a “list”.  I didn’t want it to be a list and I didn’t want it to be some type of contest.  Then I heard that some people mentioned they were in the 80s and others were in the 200s!  I do have to make it clear that I haven’t had an order as to who I thank and thus whatever number gratitude post it was has no relation to ranking.  Most posts are the night before or a couple of days before.  Yes, I saved my dad for his birthday as I did with my children for theirs, my mom was first because well she is my mom but save for them and the final two gratitude posts, no one had a day or a number.  The list by the end of Sunday is far from complete.  I could thank another 365 people who got me to where I am today and this is what today’s gratitude post is about – to all of the people I didn’t name and there are hundreds of you that have impacted me!  So many former students, co-workers past and present, family members, inlaws, bosses, professors, fellow students, random strangers, neighbours past and present, friends, backhanded gratitudees (bullies and the like), service providers, celebrities etc, etc – just so many people who have made me who I am and to all of you un-named in this past year, you are part of this gratitude journey just because you were not personally mentioned here doesn’t mean you weren’t recognized by me.  To all the new people that will come in to my life, thanking you in advance as some of you will change and influence me in new ways.  Thank you to all of you who came along with me on this 365 day journey as well.  Your encouragement and support has gotten me to this end point.

March 14 – you gave my dad a chance

233/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. I have yet to write a gratitude post for my dad but that one is coming in May on either his birthday or the anniversary of his passing and it will be one of the toughest ones I write but today, I have to honour the men who gave him his livelihood. Before and after his time/hospitalization/incarceration (whatever you want to call it) at Riverview, my dad did hold down a job to be able to support us. Yes, he would lose it at work due to his paranoia and delusions because of his schizophrenia and just walk off the job or not go to work for days or get into fights but the bosses/owners/managers must have known that he had a wife and two young kids and gave him countless chances. I recall my mom bestowing exorbitant Christmas gifts upon his bosses and I would complain as to why when we barely had enough to make it through but today I completely understand – those men gave my dad a job and focus and he brought in money to the house when he was working. I didn’t understand it then but I do get it now. They could have fired my dad for so many infractions but they kept him on – on until he got his pension and on so that he had benefits to cover us. I tried to search them up about a decade ago to phone them and tell them how much I, as an adult, wanted to thank them for doing what they did as I wouldn’t be who I am today if my dad wasn’t able to have held down a job to support us if not for them. Alas, I was not successful in my endeavour but this gratitude post goes out to you gentlemen – from the bottom of my heart, I truly thank you for doing the right thing and because of that, letting me and my sisters have lives that matter!

March 2 – shout out to the blue collars

221/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me.   For this gratitude blog, sometimes I have people in mind months prior, other times I have the gratitudee come to me the day of. Today it’s the latter. I was getting my vehicle washed and vacuumed at a dealership and had half an hour or so and decided to walk and get some groceries. As I was walking to the store, I started noticing the people who were getting off their work shifts around 4pm and almost every person was some type of blue collar labourer – from the construction men to the delivery truck driver, from the kitchen staff at the back of restaurants to the guys doing the detailing of my vehicle. This observation is even more interesting in that during one of my classes, I remarked to the students that although I may look like I come from a life of privilege, I came from a blue collar family and worked every summer (as far as I can remember) as a labourer – berry picker, restaurant employee and in various retail establishments. Maybe on some subconscious level, that conversation made me hyper-aware of the people I encountered later but regardless, I am glad that I had that sense of my surroundings because it made me that much more aware of the career that I have and thankful that it fits my personality. When I did manual labour as a child and teenager, I absolutely hated it and it did not make me happy as a person. I also knew that that was not the field for me through career testing in high school. However, it is exactly what some people enjoy – my son being one for example. I am very appreciative of my blue collar brethren (and sisters) who are employed in these fields and love what they do, like what they do, or do what they have to do as it makes me realize that I am not of that ilk and that I should be and am grateful for the line of work that I found myself in. I have been told by blue-collar friends that they could never do my job and/or want to do my job and today I finally understood what that really meant. Our personalities must match our vocation in order for true fulfilment in that area. Thank you to all of you who are in the hands-on fields to make me realize and appreciate that I need to be in the hands-off path for my personal growth to take place.