Gratitude

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a day we are supposed to spend being grateful. Grateful for the abundance of food on our plates, the roof over our heads and the families we love who live beneath them. I admit to taking these things for granted. Too often I fail to recognize what’s right in front of my eyes and see how incredibly blessed I am. I let myself get wrapped up in some pretty mundane stuff sometimes—I’m only human after all and they really did run out of fresh basil at Whole Foods geez! Thankfully the universe always has a way of nudging us (sometimes gently, sometimes not) when we are drifting off course; mine came yesterday in the form a letter I found in my mailbox.

Dear friend Rachel,

Thank you for the financial support you are sending me and for all the training I am getting. I have been displaced and living in Nmugunga camp for 2 and a half years now. I am in room 47-33. My name is Jeanne Nakabuka and my husband’s name is Ephron. Together we have 8 children…

I read her letter over and over and even relished my pathetic attempts at pronouncing her children’s beautiful, exotic names and I felt such gratitude.

Thank you Jeanne Nakabuka for waking me the hell up his holiday.

Thank you Women for Women International for giving me the opportunity to sponsor these incredible women and for reminding me that there really is no better feeling than gratitude…even if it is just for the silliest thing, like turkey and mashed potatoes. Thanks to Jeanne it will not be lost on me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Women for Women International
general@womenforwomen.org
202-737-7705