gratitude | Cathy C. Hall Writes

autumn-mott-rodeheaver-SPd9CSoWCkY-unsplash I will be the first to say that I can do some pretty weird things. BUT they are weird things with a purpose.

Like the iron plant hanger with the hook on the end that I was waving about in the driveway? It was the perfect length to reach the gutters and the hook easily could sweep the leaves right out and onto my head.

I mean, sure, I could’ve paid my gutter cleaner guy, but I have a LOT of trees and I like to wait until the entire roof is covered with dead leaves and pine needles before I bring in the guy who spends fifteen minutes with a leaf blower. So to any of the neighbors driving by, I was not engaged in a New Age ritual leaf dance; I was saving money.

And I had a perfectly good reason for wearing two fitness trackers, and I would have been perfectly happy to explain the purpose to Youngest Junior Hall but he took one look at my arm and then held up his hand to stop me. “I don’t want to know,” he said.

Fine. But if you want to know–because it’s actually quite interesting–then you’ll need to zip over to The Muffin to read “Being Thankful For What Counts.”

I have lots to be thankful for, and having a creative mind that comes up with solutions (albeit weird ones) is easily in my Top Ten. I hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving, and if you’d like to share something from your Top Ten list for which you’re grateful, I know we’d love to celebrate with you!

Photo by Autumn Mott Rodeheaver on Unsplash

IMG_20191016_113809085 Monday night, I spoke to the Women’s Guild at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and thank goodness I did because inspiration has been in short supply lately.

See, the friend who contacted me (way back in the summer) mentioned again how much she loved my blog and how she laughed at my social media shenanigans (at least, I think she said that. I may just be adding that part to make the story better). The point is, she wanted to liven up her meetings and she thought of little old, lively me. And then Eureka (and just in the nick of time, I might add)! An idea popped into my hitherto empty head!

Most of my blog posts are promoting whatever I’ve got out there in the world and I totally forget sometimes that my blog posts are actually promoting…well…me.

Which is crazy, I know, because right up there at the top of the page is Cathy C. Hall in really big letters. Anyway, inspiration struck as I realized that as a writer, I’m always selling me. So I’m always working, no matter what I’m doing. Of course, I went into a lot more writerly detail over at the Muffin today in “It May Not Look Like Work…” But bottom line, I’m very grateful to my friend and the Women’s Guild for the idea.

And did you see that delightfully cute fish they gave me? It’s on my bookcase where all my books are shelved–and it’s pointing in my direction. Because I need to remember that point about me and working.

But also because I’m grateful for the warm welcome from the Women’s Guild, not to mention their generosity. They’re involved in all kinds of service over there at St. Patrick’s so I know how giving these women are. But honestly, even if they hadn’t bought a ton of my Chicken Soup for the Soul books, I would still have been overwhelmed by their kind words and generous spirit, plus their laughter (in all the right places).

See, a writer may be working all the time, but it takes a joyful reader to make her glad that she does.