This is not my regular Thanksgiving post where I give thanks for all my blessings. The brainwave for this post came about when I was washing dishes – anyone who knows me knows how much I hate doing dishes. As I sunk my fingers into the dishwashing detergent (because the dish rag was dirty), my mind sped to the conversation I had with my friend earlier. She told me she was allergic to dishwashing soap and couldn’t wash dishes. The house-help did not turn up and her kitchen was filled with dirty dishes.
My heart went out to my friend. I knew what that was like. My house-help has not been coming since the beginning of the month. I have been doing most of the dishes and my mother-in-law has been helping. Every day I would secretly wish that the dish I was washing would be the last one to be soaped by my hands. But on Thanksgiving day, when I felt the detergent on my fingers as I slowly scrubbed the coffee mug, a wave of gratitude washed over me because I could wash dishes! How weird, right? Someone who hates doing the dishes is being grateful for the ability to do it. Life is weird that way. It teaches you lessons exactly when you need to learn them.
I was telling my kids about this new found love for washing dishes and asked them what they were thankful for and my daughter said almost immediately, ”I am thankful that I don’t have peanut allergies or I couldn’t have peanut butter which is the most awesome thing in the world!”
So what weird things are you grateful for? Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Damyanti Chandrasekhar loves yoga, baking and the Tao. She has a Masters degree in Journalism and her other interests include reading, travelling and playing agony aunt via her blog www.punctuatelife.co