Gratitude

My mother-in-law and I text every day. She started texting me when I was first diagnosed with leukaemia and hasn’t missed a day since. Generally, a short text about what she and my father-in-law are doing, pictures of the garden, or an update on the latest puzzle they are working on.

About this time last week I replied to her daily text with a complaint about a task that I dislike immensely. Her first reply was to commiserate, saying that she hated this task as much as I did. Her follow up text, however, felt as though she had reached through phone and given me a firm shake.

My mother-in-law reminded me that how no matter how distasteful the task, I was healthy enough to do it, and had the financial wherewithal to pay for it.

Gratitude. Just reading my mother-in-laws words changed my whole perspective that day. The task was still a chore to be completed. But … at least I was able to (that had not been the case many times in the past 4 years). Keeping this perspective in mind made a huge difference.

Thanks for listening (and thanks Mom for the daily texts)

Mike