Being Thankful

http://bwlpublishing.ca/authors/baldwin-barbara-romance/

  Reconnaissant

Agradecido

    Kansha shite iru

  Buíoch

                Every language has a word for “thankful.” Since it’s November, I automatically thought to write about Thanksgiving, but realized not everyone celebrates that specific holiday. And when you stop to think about it, why do we celebrate being thankful on only one particular day of the year? It should be an everyday occurrence.

                Many of you are already nodding your head, because we do give thanks every single day. We’re thankful for our families, our jobs, our homes, our health. But have you ever thought about all the totally unique, out of the ordinary things? Let me give you an example.

                I had the opportunity to visit Paris this summer for a writing workshop and we visited Versailles one evening. While walking back up the path to the seating by the fountain, I bent over to catch my breath. (This is not a blog about how out of shape I am!) I saw a cell phone lying on the gravel. Since it was night time and the phone was black, I’m surprised I noticed it at all. I picked it up and tried to open it, hoping to call someone and tell them I had found a phone with their contact but the phone was either locked or the battery was dead. I would simply have to turn it in and hope someone checked with security. (Since my son had once left his phone on a restaurant table, I realized how hopeful someone was that this would be returned to them.)

                With a bright flash, the phone rang. I quickly swiped it and answered with a cherry “hello” only to have someone start chattering in French, of which I know “bonjour”.  I quickly gave it to our workshop director, who spoke fluent French. The end result was we left the phone with a security agent at a place the owner could easily find. No doubt that person was thankful for our help, but I was just as thankful that I had been able to help, just as someone had once done for my son.

                Out of the ordinary, uncommon things to be thankful for, and yet just as wonderful as the roof over my head. Every time I drive up to the house from a trip, and especially if it’s dark, I thank my parents and two sisters for watching over me and getting me home safely.

                As an author, I am thankful for the ability to put words together in such a way as to create a story. That may sound simple, but believe me, some days the words do not want to play together nicely! A completed novel leads to being very thankful to readers because your interest and reviews give my publisher faith in me and my next novel. So much so that the book featured here is my 20th full length novel! “Prelude and Promises” is a fun romance about how opposites attract and I hope you will grab a copy. If you do, you can participate in BWL newest contest.

                And speaking of publishers, a huge thank you to Books We Love, who is having a BOGO until December 25^th. The link is http://bookswelove.net/bwl-holiday-special-free-books/ and it’s as simple as submitting a purchase receipt for a book from Books We Love.  

I challenge you to come up with the unusual for your daily thankful-ness. And if you want to share thankfulness with a stranger, next time you’re in a drive-through (Starbucks, McDonalds, etc), pay the bill for the person behind you. They won’t track you down but believe me, they will be thankful. 

Best wishes as we enter the holiday season.

Barbara Baldwin, who is thankful for so many things it would be impossible to list them all.