Being Thankful

I'm a complainer. Like a big one. I complain a lot and most of the time I don't even know it. I even found myself complaining tonight as I was playing the card game Hand and Foot with my friends Jimmy and Karen (yes my finger really does hurt, but still, I don't have to complain. More on that subject later.)

Which reminded me of my dear friend Amanda Shaffer. The other day she blogged about her 30-day challenge for the month of November. Every day for 30 days she is going to sit down and write a hand written note to somebody that she is thankful for. Because isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about (even though we all think about the food and stuff). So I have totally stolen Amanda's idea. Here are the rules Amanda set up for herself - which I totally just copied and pasted straight from her blog (sorry for being so unoriginal Amanda)

#1 - Every day sit down to write a note to someone I am thankful for. (It must be HANDWRITTEN -- an email is great. A Facebook post in nice. But a handwritten note? It shows them that I thought about them for longer than the three minutes it would take to type something meaningul because I can type like a madwoman.)

#2 - It must be sent within 3 days (through the mail or hand-delivered.)

#3 - The note must be plain and simple - no frills or fancy cards or anything like that --- I want the message to be 'I appreciate you' not 'oooo.... look at the adorably good taste I have in cards! (even though I do find the cutest cards) It's just a little note to say why I am thankful...

#4 - It can be to anyone that I am thankful for -- a family member, a friend, a neighbor, the nice lady that sent my fax through, my realtor, the mailman, my doctor, the library ladies... it may be a good idea to carry blank note cards with me in case I get inspired to write something... point is - if someone has done something that I am truly thankful for, they get a thank you.

#5 - This is NOT about being a butt-kisser or a toot-my-own-horn-er.... it's about taking time to remember those who have been in my life and who are in my life.

So so-far I have kept up with it. Yesterday I wrote a letter to my dear, sweet Oregon family, Kory and Sara, and hand-delivered it. And today I almost didn't do it. I was going to write a letter after we played some games, but Jimmy and Karen didn't leave until 12:45 am (I still count this as November 2nd since I haven't gone to bed yet) and all I wanted to do was go to bed, BUT I saw the stationary and pen sitting on the table so I sat down and wrote my friend Lindsay a letter. I will deliver it tomorrow when I head into camp.

Feel free to ask me how I'm doing with this later as the month goes on. I want to start strong and end strong. Thanks Amanda for the encouragement.