Grateful for fleas

In high school I read a book about a woman who, during World War 2, that was imprisoned in a concentration camp. The woman recounts a story about how her sister would always find something to be grateful for, even in their bleak circumstance. Their barracks we riddled with fleas and they were constantly itching and were covered in bumps. Her sister reminded her to be grateful for even the fleas. The fleas made it so the Nazi guards would avoid going into the barracks so, they were able to had small creature comforts, like morsels of food, pictures, and jewelry. As a teenager in the middle of Arizona, the story completely amazed me. Talk about trying to find the silver lining! The woman got through being in a concentration camp with gratitude. (I would be forever grateful to anyone who could remind me of the name of the book, because I just can’t remember. Haha!)

This blog is not for wimps. It is easy to find gratitude in a warm cooked meal, flowers, babies, and butterflies and yes, these things do grace our real lives but, everything is worth being grateful for. That annoying coworker, dog doo on the floor, a screaming child in the super market, someone dying, and that slow car in front of you on the freeway that is in your way of getting where you want to go. If you are willing to open your mind to it, it is there. Why is this blog not for wimps? Well, I am asking you to dig deep and find gratitude in everything. Everything that is happening in your life right now, no matter how small, no matter how scary, no matter how terrible, be brave and find something to be grateful for. Quit expecting everything to be perfect. You might feel I am getting preachy but, actually, I am talking to myself.

My hope is to find all things in my life to be worthy of gratefulness and I also hope people will share with me the things that teach them that same thing. This blog will be the place where I collect all of those wonderful things to inspire the world to love itself. Thank you internet for making it possible.