A few years ago, I wrote a post centered around Thanksgiving and reflecting on what I was grateful for…friends, family, health etc. While that is all great, it’s a snooze. The next year, I decided to shift my focus to things that everyone can be grateful for, but they just forget to be grateful for them. That gained a bit more traction! Now, I have started a tradition of bringing attention to the little things that I simply cannot live without…or at least it feels like I can’t. With that, here are the 10 things I am grateful for this year!
1. A Good Pen
The most significant reason I have learned a good pen is something to be grateful for is when I wrote wedding thank you notes this July (I need to break friends and family rule here and give a sincere shoutout to my parents for how I am so thankful that they made the wedding happen…quite literally. The father of the bride cleaning up the bridal suite should not have been on his agenda but everyone forgets those little details behind the scenes.) Anyways, back to the important thing here, pens. Certain pens make my handwriting look like Zach’s handwriting, but sometimes you find one that understands your needs. I now have a relationship with a pen that stays with me at work all day, writes my grocery lists, wishes my parents happy birthday, and so much more. The only thing it doesn’t do is go to bed with me at night. There is a reason that people pay hundreds of dollars for a pen…and that will still 100% never be me.
2. Cake
Once again, another thing that our wedding gave me an epiphany about was just how grateful I am for cake. But it is not the spongy dessert itself with those beautiful nasty frosting roses that I am thankful for; it is the fact that cake is the food we use to celebrate everything! As I was eating the birthday cake I brought for my friend’s birthday last month, it made me reflect on how appreciative I am that it is the one food we consistently use to house a stick of fire otherwise known as a candle.
You may be thinking, Lauren, it’s just a cake. No, it’s not. Imagine going to a wedding, and the couple comes out and cuts a bowl of microwaved mashed potatoes together. Have you ever tried to cut mashed potatoes? Well let me tell you, I haven’t either. Although, I may try that at Thanksgiving because I am curious as to what that looks like now. What if you went to a birthday party, and a candle is stuck in a giant bowl of mayo. Maybe a platter of lettuce to celebrate a baby shower? You get it. And now, the next time you see a cake staring at you at a family function, give it the love it deserves even if it has those nasty, sugar rush, bright red roses that turn your teeth red. Cake = celebration, and be grateful it is not any other food!
3. Shared Experiences
As a 2020 graduate, I have only been exposed to the virtual work world minus the one time a month I go into the office. This means, all current mannerisms and procedures are all I have ever known. But…I made an observation that I am sure everyone can relate to. When you join a work meeting, the way to break the silence exchanging the “hi how are you- good, how are you?” sentences. It then transitions into conversations about precipitation, or the lack of precipitation. After that, the meeting is as dull as a gloomy Monday with a chance of precipitation. I have always enjoyed going against social norms and being the one that brings weird humor to work. Every morning I like to wish my manager a happy whatever national day it is. For example, today is National Absurdity Day. It is very entertaining and a great way to start the day because the concepts are something everyone can relate to (not sure if absurdity day is a good thing to relate to…)
One day I decided to do a little psychology experiment regarding how being honest changes meeting dynamics. As I hopped on my meeting and the “how are you today?” was asked, I was honest and I told her that I fell down the stairs that morning- which was true. A heck of a way to start a Monday! I think that was the first time I have ever heard a laugh on a meeting. We then discussed experiences of falling down the stairs as more people joined, and they were eager to share when they fell down the stairs, too. After that, the meeting was a lot more upbeat and people actually listened each other’s ideas. This is why I love psychology!
There are so many more experiences that people share, we just forget to talk about them. You would be surprised how many people are itching to share about how they sliced their finger cutting onions, got in car accidents, and fell down the stairs head first rather than feet first with the bumpy ride all the way down. For the record, I have brought up good things too, but the bad are the most entertaining.
4. Medications
I think a lot of people can relate to the routine of walking down the stairs every morning, looking at horse pills for various conditions, despising having to walk ALL THE WAY across the kitchen to get a glass of water, having to wait for your cup to be full, and mustering up the courage to swallow something whole which the human body was not primally designed to do. Side note- one time in middle school I didn’t want to swallow my Ibuprofen so I put it in my sandwich at lunch. Do not do that, ever, unless you like the taste of extreme bitter chalky substances. Let me continue: think of the time you felt the most sick in your life. I will give you a few seconds to relive that terrible time. What if you had absolutely nothing to help? What if you had a kidney infection while on the way to Duluth to a family function and had to stop in Sandstone Minnesota? (in case you didn’t pick up on the very specific details, this is a Lauren story. You’d have to have a heck of a reason to go to Sandstone). Medication and supplements are something to be grateful for daily, even if that means having to take the time to pill prep your little pill boxes. Thank your Flintstone vitamins-but not the grape ones, those are gross.
In all seriousness, I truly am eternally grateful. A lot of you have followed my story, but for those who haven’t, my past posts will provide you with information that makes this seem less insane. The day I was diagnosed with Epilepsy after going on a 14 year road trip to “H-E- double hockey sticks” and back was one of the happiest days of my life. Not many people cry tears of joy when they are told they are diagnosed with a lifelong condition, but I sure did. When I tell others how relieved I am to be diagnosed with Epilepsy, they probably think I am the reason for national absurdity day.
The day I pulled up to the Walgreens drive thru window and the crabby lady with blue hair handed me my first Anti Epilepsy Drug called Keppra, it felt like one of the proudest moments of my life. I may need to name my first child Keppra because I am so grateful there is a medication to help the monster in my brain that I’ve housed since I was 10. Every birthday I’ve had, I’d blow out my candle on my cake (see? no mashed potatoes) and I would always wish for my quality of life to get just a little bit better- not all the way better because I didn’t think that was an option for me. I can only hope that everyone that doesn’t have hope will experience this feeling of their wish becoming beyond true. I will continue to preach for the rest of my life how grateful I am to have medication even though I will be on it the rest of my life, because it only took one single hour to fix 14 years of waiting.
5. Underwear
I had en eye opening experience this year that made me truly realize how important underwear are. I am an advocate for underwear after forgetting to pack any on my honeymoon. Best part? I was on an island in which no store sold any. To end my story, I happened to go into a gag gift shop on the LAST DAY, and found “emergency disposable underwear.” So I tell you now, when you pull out your next pair today, and remember that you never know what you miss until it is gone.
6. Toilet Bowl Brushes
This is probably the last thing you’d think of, and that is the point of this whole post, but I am eternally grateful that I do not have to go elbow deep in a toilet when it needs a good scrub. I tend to think that toilet brushes are gross in general, but really, it is the hero. It does the deed that everyone tries to avoid- it gets no say in the matter. I think I have said enough.
7. Screwdrivers
Who is a fan of Ikea, or ordering furniture online because going to the store takes too much time and effort? I keep forgetting the fact that going to the store and getting already assembled furniture takes less effort than putting together your own even if it is delivered to your doorstep. As Zach and I have been making our house look less deserted, we have found a new hobby in putting furniture together with not so helpful directions, and breaking down giant boxes with too much styrofoam. Sure, trying to follow those directions is hard…but can you imagine trying to do the job without the screwdriver? As I watch Zach put together our furniture and give him emotional support since I can’t seem to get it right, I can’t imagine how he’d put together our latest endeavors without that thing. Just for your information, I do participate in household activities because I am the one who is so grateful for my friend the toilet bowl brush!
8. Emergency Stop Buttons
When you are at the gym, do you hop on a treadmill and immediately put the little emergency stop clip on, or ever used the red emergency stop button? No. Everyone is too cool for school to wear that thing. Have you ever seen someone fly off a treadmill, or at least understand the concept that if you fall on a treadmill, you would shoot backwards? You see, I am GREAT at kicking it up a notch of what would already be humiliating. This is not a story about how I flew off the treadmill. It is a story about how I stayed on the treadmill.
To set the scene: I had a terrible day and went on the treadmill to do some sprints to blow some steam sporting my brand new white shoes (remember this part). This stress relief method is a typical thing for me. I finished my interval at 13mph and pressed up on the sidebars to straddle the track to take a breather…except I missed a foot. My feet whipped out from under me and my immediate reflex was to hold on when any normal person would probably surrender and let go….except I did not let go. In my head, I didn’t want to be THAT person at the gym that shoots off the back hitting whatever was behind me. Instead, I let myself be dragged all while I didn’t realize the skin on my legs was slowly being sanded down in the process. As I was being dragged, I took a moment and contemplated in my head: do I let go? hmmm, I think I am just going to hold even though I have no solution to this problem….but I don’t want to end up like that lady who held on and the belt made her pants fly off. I decided to hold on, and tried my hardest to discretely be in crisis. Gratefully, a stranger came over and hit the emergency stop button, and another stranger came over and picked me up like a rag doll. I then looked down to see the finished product of sanded my knees. They would make my 6th grade Tech Ed teacher proud! But I looked down farther and in horror, I saw the giant black stains on my brand new white shoes. I went to the locker room to clean myself up, and despite my legs being as raw as uncooked chicken, I was more concerned about cleaning up my shoes first. Priorities.
9. The Library
My memory of the library is sitting in elementary school being forced to check out books I’d never read every week, and learning how to use the encyclopedia. It was also being a part of the summer reading program in which my brother and I had to read a certain amount of minutes every week in order to get a prize that was 100% not worth it at the end of the summer. That being said, I have not visited a library again until this year. I spent so much money on sappy romance novels this year, and then gave them away because I am not one to read a book twice. Zach mentioned I should get a library card, and then I can read books galore for free! I thought this concept was too good to be true until I looked at all the options and realized all the books I read in the past year were at the library! I realized now that libraries don’t equate to reading dictionaries and encyclopedias. The concept of being an adult now and using a library again is the greatest invention I have discovered this year, and I don’t care if the childish cartoon Babe the Blue Ox is on it.
10. Quality Knives
I am hesitant to put this on here because this has been a mixed bag thus far. I will get to that story in a bit. Before getting our new knife block, I had hand me down knives that were useless for anything besides a vegetable. Honestly, this probably would have been safer due to the fact I am not good with sharp things. I truly did not know that knives had names and each name is meant to cut different things! (Zach is the chef in the house, thankfully not me). This has made making meals so much faster and easier. Except for when it wasn’t…
It was the day after my traumatic treadmill incident (remember this part). Zach was chopping an onion when all of a sudden he wasn’t chopping the onion anymore. I will spare the details but I finally convinced him that fingers should not bleed that much. To all the men out there, put aside your pride and go to the dang doctor! We got there and were ushered over to a bed in the hallway since no rooms were available. Maybe everyone in Woodbury was chopping their fingers that night, who knows, but every nurse that walked by immediately thought we were there due to the fact I was missing a lot of skin on my legs. I was very entertained by how many stares we got starting at my legs, transitioning over to Zach getting stitched up! To end with a cherry on top, a month later I sliced my hand by cutting a stick of butter (yes I know, I am still trying to figure out how I did that, too).
That’s all I have for you this year! I mentioned this in the past, but every morning I write down three of the most mundane things I am grateful for. This really opens my eyes to all the things that make my life so much easier and better! Think about your 10 things to be grateful for this year. You can do this during your morning coffee, drive on the way home, in the shower, cooking dinner, doing laundry, fixing a fence, during a very important work meeting, cutting your phalanges, hanging upside down, putting up your Christmas tree way too early, and any other ridiculous times to do this. There has been so much to be grateful for, is so much to be grateful for, and will be so much to be grateful for!
I am also grateful for my friends and family- had to get that in there somewhere.
~Lauren
Life of Lauren 