OUT OF THE LOOP

Just a few words to let anyone interested know that I am still alive, though barely.  "Tis the time of year to get sick and stay sick.  I started with a dreaded sinus infection, due to the cold winds that blew through Georgia a few weeks back.  Then it trickled down into my chest, where that little green guy from the Mucinex commercial lives.  I caught it early though, and he didn't get much of a chance to set up house. 

I have worked through the sickness, other than over Thanksgiving.  I slept most of the day on Thanksgiving, trying to gather up strength to work on Friday and Saturday.  At my store, if you do not come in to work on the two or three days after Thanksgiving, you are immediately fired.........unless you have a death certificate for yourself or a loved one, or a doctor's note excusing you due to near death.  So, of course, I crawled in on Friday and Saturday to work. 

The really funny thing is this...........all of the new folks (mostly teens and young adults) that are seasonal help showed up for the days after Thanksgiving, but almost everyone called in on Monday..........sick.  Sure............

I am thankful I have a job, even though it often tries to drag my health down.  So many wonderful things have happened to me this past year, so when the bad things come along, I shouldn't dwell on them, but remember the good things in my life. 

I have a beautiful daughter, who, though often doesn't show it, loves me with her whole heart, as I do her.  I work with several girls around my daughter's age who don't have near the character that my daughter does.  They don't have the "stick-to-itiveness" that it takes to make it in this world. 

I am thankful I have someone to share my life with. 

I am thankful for a 110 year old roof over my head.......cracks and all.

I am thankful for my "cat from hell", Coatie. 

I am thankful for the very few but close friends I have.

I am thankful I live in a country that still believes in freedom, and is willing to fight and die for it.

I am thankful for the Christian agencies that have not only helped ME get through tough times, but countless others as well.

I am most thankful for Jesus Christ, my Savior. 

A few months ago, before I moved out of the "hell hole" where I was renting a room, I stopped at a local Chinese restaurant to eat.  I always like to read the fortune cookies, even though I don't put any "faith" into the fortunes.  Most of them, like this one, are fairly generic, and could mean anything.  But this one I remember.........I even still have it tucked inside my wallet...........

"THE COMING YEAR WILL BRING GOOD CHANGES TO YOUR LIFE"

Yep, it did.  I had lost my faith along the way, and needed something as small as a piece of paper tucked inside a cookie to remind me of it.