*Thank you, Toinette Thomas, for your willingness to serve as today’s guest contributor.*
My life is not and has not been easy, but when compared to so many others less fortunate than me, my life is actually pretty sweet. I’m a self-published author, which basically means that I’m not afraid of a challenge, am often misunderstood, and even more often overlooked. Then to top things off, as a day job I work as a teacher’s assistant. What that really means is that I am desperately vital to proper daily production, but that I’m ultimately underpaid and under-appreciated. If it sounds like I’m being a downer, things are about to perk up.
In so many ways and for so many reasons, I could be a very unhappy person, but I’m not. Gratitude keeps me from getting too down in the dumps. So my life isn’t everything that I want it to be; if I got everything I wanted, I’d be stuck with a lot of regrets. I choose to be grateful for what I have, and boy, do I have a lot.
People all over the world believe in all kinds of things, and some people even choose to believe in nothing, but for me belief is essential. I’m grateful that I have faith in something greater than myself. I was raised a certain way, but as an adult I came to know, experience, and believe things on my own and in my own way. I’m grateful to have that faith and belief in my life.
I’m grateful that I married a man who really and truly is my best friend. I’d like to brag that my husband is my biggest fan when it comes to writing, but he isn’t. He isn’t much of a reader, but that’s ok. He understands me in a way that no one, in all my huge family, ever had or does to this day. He has stuck with me through all the ups and downs and has encouraged my writing to the point where he has made sacrifices so that I could be able to write. He’s not perfect and doesn’t say all the right things all the time, but he knows the right things to say and do when it really matters.
Then there’s my mother, a woman who doesn’t understand me at all, but loves me anyway. Now, she is my biggest fan. My mother supports me so much as a writer, that if she had the money, she’d buy a copy of my book for every person in the country to have, just so it would be a best seller and everyone could read it. My mother and I are alike in few ways, but the ways in which are, are so very special to me. I look like mother, a fact that can’t be denied. Many people mistake our voices all the time and people constantly have to ask when pictures of us were taken to determine who it is in the image. The ways in which we are different, are the types of things that usually tear mothers and daughters apart, but our love is greater than that.
As for the rest of my family, I can’t put them in this message because there just isn’t enough time and space to write about them. I love my family. Without them, I don’t know if even my writing would be enough to keep me going from day-to-day. I am grateful that I have been blessed with an ability to tell tales and write my own personal meaning to the world and the meaning of life. I am grateful for my god. I am grateful for my husband. I am grateful for my family and I am grateful for my writing. These things make me who I am.
*Learn more about Toi by checking out her blog.*
Gratitude Cup 