X is for eXpress gratitude

 

X is for eXpress gratitude

I feel like I'm cheating today since I'm not actually using words that begin with X!

Today, I want to eXpress gratitude to a whole bunch of folks - I'm going to keep my list to 24 since X is the 24th letter in the alphabet. Just know that there are many more!

I'm so grateful for (in no particular order):

1. Charlotte and Ronnie Perkins and Linda and Jimmie Nix and Carol and Clayton Dorough - they loved me back to Jesus after my divorce when I was so very young.
2. Bess Studdard - my senior Advanced English teacher - she was tough but she was one of my favorite teachers
3. My sister, Becky, and her ex-husband - after momma died and daddy was working nights, they let me live with them . . .and they were newlyweds (and our other sister, Glenine, who provided me with babysitting jobs and sold my crocheted purses)
4. The Parker family - who claimed me as one of their own kids after momma died
5. Inez and Hub Lane - they, too, claimed me as their own and took me on vacation with them for years.
6. Matthew Penfield and Ann Neptune - who hired me to work at Trinity and actually brought me full circle - from a young woman rejected by the Baptist Mission Board because I was divorced to someone on a church staff who gets to be in ministry every single day
7. Brian Erickson - who treats me as his partner rather than as a secretary - who believes in me - who shows me God's grace every day
8. Mark - I've already sung his praises but you can go back and read ALL about him on the M day
9. our kids
10. our kid's spouses
11. our granddaughters - they (9, 10, 11) are awesome in all the ways
12. my co-workers - they make it a pleasure to come to work every day and some of them have become my close friends
13. Mel Sparkman - who was my boss at South Central Bell when I went through my divorce. I was broke and I cried at work because I couldn't even afford a Christmas tree and he brought me a tree stand and helped me get a tree (that is just ONE example) 
14. Ed Onimus, who was my boss later at South Central Bell and at AT&T. He could be a tyrant but he groomed me and made me into the assistant that I am today.
15. Our supper club - we've been together since 2004 -- almost 20 years of life together
16. Our Sunday School class - I'm serious. What do people do during crises when they don't have a church family?
17. My "once a month" lunch buddies - we, too, have supported each other through good and bad
18. My professor, Lucy Lewis - she is amazing
19. My advisor at Jeff State who has answered at least a million questions
20. Wade Griffith and Laura Eanes - we were amazing together
21. Our parents - who never had it easy but never let us know that
22. Susan Peterson - I miss her so much - cancer took her way too soon
23. Nancy Smith - she introduced Mark and me - she was Mark's first cousin who was more like a sibling and cancer took her way too soon, too
24. My mother-in-law who has always loved me as her own

This is more than a "thankful" post -- I'm deeply grateful for these people and what they meant in my life. I'm sure I've left out folks and this is not a comprehensive list.