Gratitude Study---- Tell us what you are thankful for

By arizona1
Posted August 21, 2008 at 9:55 am

I am thankful for my family...... the many blessings God has bestowed on me, despite all that I have gone through. It could be worse.... alot worse. I am not living in an African hut with no running water, food or a bed to sleep on..... in fact they don't have clean water period.... or even ample food supplies in some places.
I am thankful for the internet. I have gained friendships, knowledge and a companion when in the lonely hours with my CFS and heart issues.
I am so thankful for my shade garden... It was completed in my better days. Thanks to the gardeners that put down mulch this year when I couldn't do it anymore.
I loved my lilies in bloom this year. They were brilliant in color. The mandevilla that I purchased from Costco bloomed, even though it was said to be tempermental. My neighbors loved it as it climbed up the corner wall of my house.

Kathi

By Ecksunbeam
Posted August 21, 2008 at 11:39 am

1) I am GREATFUL for a roof over my head.

2) I am GREATFUL that I lived to spend more time with my daughter and to see her grow into a beautiful, mature young woman.

3) I am GREATFUL for a loving God watching over me who seems to fulfill my needs better than I know how to fulfill them myself.

4) I am GREATFUL for my doctors. (All of mine are good!)

5) I am GREATFUL for this web site. I am meeting some of the best women on the planet here--and who have the best hearts anyone could ask for.

May the Blessings Be!

Sherrie

By Kennarina
Posted August 22, 2008 at 11:40 am

Hello Heart Sisters and thank you Kathi for starting this important and uplifting post! I am grateful for so much -- where to start?!?

* I am very grateful to be living today and not 40 years ago, and also literally to be alive today, given the goofy choices I made while having a full-blown heart attack on a plane

* I am grateful for two wonderful and brave children who dropped everything to fly across the country to babysit their Mum back in May

* I am grateful to friends, neighbours and co-workers who showed such helpfulness, love and generosity of spirit during my recuperation

* I am grateful to have learned what to say in the future to others who are stricken with a health crisis (like: "I'm coming over to your place to wash your car - inside and out!")

* I am grateful to have learned what NEVER to say in the same circumstance ("Let me know if there is anything I can do...." and also, who can forget: "You look JUST GREAT!!")

* I am grateful that I live in the most beautiful place on earth - that happens to have a nationally-acclaimed Heart Centre (who knew?) famous for its brilliant pioneering docs and state-of-the-art facilities/technology

* I am grateful to have a post-op support system in place that offers me weekly support groups and a fabulous 3-month Cardiac Rehabilitation program

* I am grateful for having made the decision one year ago to move out of the big house (with stairs) in order to downsize to a wonderful little condo (with an elevator! And a huge oversized shower with a seat and grab bars!) Very handy for heart patients...

* I am grateful that all of my care, procedures, doctors' visits, medications, emergency room and hospital stays, and all current and future treatments do not cost me one penny, because I live in Canada

* I am always grateful on laundry day because that means clean sheets - and is there anything in life more sublime than going to sleep on clean sheets?

XOXOXO

By Patybluetx
Posted August 22, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Despite life's shorcomings I am grateful for everything positive in my life and some of the negative things too!
I am first and foremost greatful for my wonderful husband, without him and his love I don't think I would be here today.
I am greatful for our wonderful caring family, sure they can be nosy but they do it b/c they love us LOL
I am greatful for every wonderful day I get to spend living my wonderful life.
I am greatful for the comfortable life I get to live.
I am greatful I found this website because I found it during a difficult part of my life in which I need all the support I can get.
For this and many more things, I am greatful :)

By martzj
Posted August 22, 2008 at 11:52 pm

I normally fill a page in my Gratitudes journal every bedtime, but this is just as lovely a place to so do. Kathi, you are unfailingly sending us uplifting thoughts and things to do. Thank you so much.

Tonight,I am grateful my sweet guy just called to say he well be moving back to town tomorrow and we can begin the next phase of our journey together. Love will live here soon.

I am grateful that when I had severe chest pains I walked outside to enjoy the darkening twilite and saw the very first gorgeous dinner plate sized glowing white moonflower on the vine. They only open at night and sweetly perfume the air. I felt like the moonflower blossom was a sign that I would be fine.

I am grateful the jasamine shrub was also sweetly perfuming the night air on my deck this evening.

I am grateful I found the energy to swim three times this week, plus had enough left to stock the house with food, gas up the care, create order and backup supplies.

I am grateful Murf purred like a lawnmower as I brushed his long glossy white coat and snuggled beside me to snooze.

I am grateful I have loving friends I see on a weekly basis and we have age old histories together that get us through everything life throws at us.

I as grateful I found my way to precisely the types of water world swimming that continues to create miracles inside my body and heart.

I am grateful I have stacks of wonderful books all around, to reach for when I feel morale slipping.

I am grateful that in spite of heart attacks, without medical support of any kind, that I have found my way to what is helping me on my own.

I am glad that 12 years after acute MI, I am still seeking out ways to prolong and enhance daily quality of life, and that for the first time the total silence from my medical world is becoming moot because I have the amazing women on this site ...the one who really know and so generously offer help and encouragent!

I am grateful that any of the women here received the finest, most agressive care and follow.

I am grateful that the neighbor kitty Mewy, races across the street to 'supervise' loudly and quite eloquently my gardening efforts and is very snoopy, but cuddley and purrs loudly as I bend down to rub him.

I am grateful I strapped on the knee braces and was able to clean out more closets to make room for my guy. And I was amazed at how much I'd been carring around that I don't even like anymore. I put a lot of good stuff on the curb and odds are it will be gone when I wake....which me make me happier still.

I am grateful so many women her are from different nations and contribute freely their struggeles.

I am grateful mornings are now cool enough to have open windows and no AC rackat! Lovin my silence while I can.

I am grateful the women here and are so happy to share what they have been though, what may lie ahead.

I am grateful to be freshly showered and on clean sheets. ONe of my bigges dreams it to have a retrackielable closhes line. How I adore having out sheets to dry in sun. Smells yummy as I drift off......

By DonaMarie
Posted August 23, 2008 at 8:50 am

Hi,
I have never kept a journal, though as an author I have tons of notes on characters but nothing on myself. This is a wonderful idea that I'll take up.

I'm grateful for my husband of nearly 40 years.

I'm grateful for my son that gave me both a wonderful daughter-in-law and a perfect granddaughter.

I'm grateful for all this life as imperfect as it is it's still pretty fantastic.

Dona

By sandylevin
Posted August 23, 2008 at 11:23 am

I woke up early this morning with a feeling of gratitude.

I have so much to be thankful for, as a human being, as a woman, a wife and mother, an American. I sit here sipping my tea, looking all around me. As an American, I have my freedom and live in a beautiful country, free to vote, to wear what I want, to choose the food I want to eat, free to do what I want in life. As a wife and mother, I have a family to love and family that loves me. My immediate family is small, yet the number of my extended family and friends is large and grows with each passing day. As a woman, I am grateful to have the ability to bear children. As a human being, I am thankful for my compassion, kindness and love, for my ability to think and reason and make my own decisions.

My gratitude also extends to the material world. I am grateful for the home that shelters me from the weather, clothes to cover my body, furniture to sit comfortably, food that is nourishing and plentiful. I read the newspaper and listen to the news hearing reports of so many people living in poverty, without food and shelter. Countries are at war, destroying what little these people have. There are so many who are out of work and don’t have the money for basic staples. I do what I can to help, but the need is so great.

I glance outside at the green leaves of the magnolia tree, the lilies, petunias, and ornamental grass. The sky is overcast in early morning fog, yet I know that to the west is the ocean, to the east are mountains. Down the road there are rivers and lakes, waterfalls and streams. The sun will appear later today, the moon will rise later this evening and fill the sky with millions of stars. I am so grateful for this beautiful planet and this wondrous universe.

Sandy

By reddressgirl
Posted August 23, 2008 at 12:04 pm

I am grateful for the strong and inspirational women on this board. You keep me from knowing I am not alone in my struggles. If I am feeling something, chances are, you've already experienced it. Thank you.

I am thankful for the neighbor who called me each day after my MI to make sure I was up, dressed and had taken my meds.

I am grateful for my cardiologist who actually listens to me and seems to get it.

I am grateful for my friends and family who ask how I am doing and who give me encouragement.

I am glad to be back in the USA after living in Japan for three years.

I am grateful for my garden and my white roses that have come to life. Through these flowers, I am somehow whole again and well.

I am grateful to have survived 6 months past my MI and I am hopeful about the future.

Carrie

By arizona1
Posted August 23, 2008 at 12:32 pm

I have been trying to reach a dear high school friend that I lost contact with for several months. We were in each other's weddings, but with moves on both our parts... causing different phone numbers, addresses etc etc...... we lost contact. Through a software program downloaded by my husband last evening, I got a possible number. This is after calling several other numbers that were potential possibilites a few months ago. I am thankful this morning that I finally reconnected with my dear long lost friend. :)

I am thankful that we will be returning to PA on Tuesday. Living in a hotel for 3 weeks has gotten old.
I miss my flowers , plants, and shade garden. There is no place like home .........:)

Kathi

By martzj
Posted August 23, 2008 at 2:01 pm

I am thankful I reread what I wrote here last night and can plainly see I have no business keyboarding when I'm already half asleep....spelling was atrocious....eeek. Sorry to subject anyone else to that. egads! : O Jaynie

By arizona1
Posted August 23, 2008 at 2:18 pm

We can be thankful for our imperfections Jaynie.....
they make us human. More importantly, you posted and that is , in my eyes, significantly better than not posting. Having gratitude in any form... far surpasses
not speaking it at all.

Kathi

By smokefreeme
Posted August 23, 2008 at 2:36 pm

I am grateful that God has held me in his arms and reminds me on a daily basis that I am not broken. The courage to face each and every day with hope comes from him. The friendships made and love shared with family and friends are a bonus from him. Each and every need have been met as a gift from him. Why he has chosen to love me so... I will never know but the gratitude I feel is strongest and purest emotion I have. Blessings to you all!! Diane

By Ecksunbeam
Posted August 23, 2008 at 2:59 pm

I'm thankful that sometimes Jaynie makes spelling errors. That way I don't feel so dumb. What would "poeple" think?

I'm thankful that Kathi has finally learned how to upload a photo so that ya'll can all see how beautiful she is. She glows from the inside out!

I'm also thankful that she found her friend, because I know how badly she wanted to.

I am thankful that Sandy Levin has returned to this board. Oh! How I have missed her posts!

Sherrie

By 1spudcat
Posted August 23, 2008 at 11:20 pm

I am thankful for this body that I took for granted before my MI is now still breathing, pumping and thinking.

I am thankful for learning how to receive and ask for help when pride would not allow me to do it before my MI.

I am thankful for living now where medical knowledge can take veins from legs and restore this beating heart.

I am thankful for my church who has watched over me this past year and poured their love out on me through my ups and downs and everything in between.

I am thankful for the compassionate women who watch over each other on this site despite the hardships they may be enduring.

I'm thankful for my 86 year old dad who now sleeps under my roof and prays for me, my sister and our children every night.

I'm thankful for my three boys who have grown into good, kind men and for my oldest who refused to get me Maalox and drove me to the ER so that I can now have many more years with them.

I am thankful for silliness, laughter and sharing that pleasure with others.

I am thankful for the car in my driveway, the roof over my head, the food in my belly, clean running water and a warm place to sleep.

And I am thankful for the Son of God, who took this bitter, broken woman almost seven years ago and poured unquenchable love into her heart and a deep peace of knowing that sooner or later eternity is her hope, but till then live life with passion and love not simply for oneself but for others.

By kwinner
Posted August 24, 2008 at 12:34 am

I'm thankful for Kathi's lovely picture!

I'm thankful my husband probably doesn't have cancer, that what he probably has (though I didn't know until this week that "probably" seems to be an actual medical term) is managable and treatable, and that we'll probably have answers to all of the probably's soon.

I'm thankful for the people in my life who make me smile, make me think, make me a better person.

I'm thankful for my heart sisters, who pull me through the rough days, and make me laugh even when I don't feel like it!

I'm thankful God seems to have had a reason to keep me here and wake me up every morning to try and get it right one more time.
Love and hugs,
K

By hiblast
Posted August 24, 2008 at 12:15 pm

I'm grateful for the mother I had. She passed away 25 years ago from heart disease. She went thruogh alot with my father, but always found a way to help us kids. I'm grateful for my son who is there to help me. I'm grateful for my godmother,who no matter when I moved, my birthday and Christmas cards would always find me. I'm grateful for my job as a home-health aide. I get to meet people from all walks of life, which gives me a postive outlook on life. I'm grateful for the surgeon who had the skill to do both of my bypass operations, with out having to stop my heart completely,which is what they had to for my mother. Her heart would not start. I'm grateful to get up everyday, know that the world is not really a bad place. I'm grateful for womenheart which I found after my first bypass [2003]. I knew there had to be a place for women, not it being all about men.

By hiblast
Posted August 24, 2008 at 12:19 pm

I'm grateful for the mother I had. She passed away 25 years ago from heart disease. She went thruogh alot with my father, but always found a way to help us kids. I'm grateful for my son who is there to help me. I'm grateful for my godmother,who no matter when I moved, my birthday and Christmas cards would always find me. I'm grateful for my job as a home-health aide. I get to meet people from all walks of life, which gives me a postive outlook on life. I'm grateful for the surgeon who had the skill to do both of my bypass operations, with out having to stop my heart completely,which is what they had to for my mother. Her heart would not start. I'm grateful to get up everyday, know that the world is not really a bad place. I'm grateful for womenheart which I found after my first bypass [2003]. I knew there had to be a place for women, not it being all about men.

By terodac
Posted August 24, 2008 at 3:14 pm

I am so Grateful for God and my renewed walk with him!
I am so Grateful to be alive!
I am so Grateful for my daughter and husband!
I am so Grateful for my doctors and nurses! They are all wonderful!
I am so so Grateful for my dad of 89 years that walked with me everyday at that hospital! I Love him so very much!!
I am so Grateful for all my animals that I have had the pleasure of loving and caring for!
I am so Grateful for the simple things of everyday life!
I am so Grateful for my friends and family, that fed and cleaned my house for my husband and child after surgery!
I am so Grateful for my heart sisters here at this sight that are so very smart and loving!
I am Grateful for being blessed everyday of my life! and I am so Thankful for every breath I take!
I am Grateful that I am learning to fight fear of every little pain that comes my way after my heart surgery that scare me to this day, (still working on that)
I am really so Thankful to God!
Thank You Heart Sisters!
Have a blessed day! And many more!

By goingstrong
Posted August 24, 2008 at 8:56 pm

I'm thankful for my health (imperfect as it is!) and for my supportive family and friends - and for the knowledge that I can share with others about being alert to the S/S of heart disease.

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