I am a fan of being thankful. At the conference last week each participant was given a thank you card and the chance to express gratitude to someone who contributed to the day. To prime the pump they had a list of the presenters, teachers in the children's program, volunteers, servers, donors for the raffle, musicians, as well as the over arching organizations that support the event. It was a long list. 

But as soon as it was printed I thought of people who should have been on it.

The family who decorated the bathrooms with quotes and flowers.

The computer whiz who formatted the signs and booklet.

The professors who sent students my way as volunteers in the kids' room.

The bakery that supplied the desserts.

The treasurer who handled the cash flow.

The handy people who kept the heat cranked up in those cavernous spaces on the coldest night of the year.

The chef who delivered the stellar food, hot, on the coldest night of the year. The artist who crafted the gorgeous mugs given to presenters.

The women's organization that paid for those mugs.

The raffle prize donors who showed up after I printed it. 

The teachers who lent us their classrooms. 

The high school senior who sang with Ben.

Ben. 

The couple who brought the photobooth and costumes. 

The farmers who brought lambs for the children to pet. 

The staff at Cairnwood. 

The women who helped me with registrations.

The sound engineer.  

The more I looked, the more I found. I'm sure it's a coincidence. 

Last month in marriage group I arrived with a Complaint about John in my pocket. It made it inconvenient to think about anything else. But the exercise was to rate from one to ten how much our partner meets our needs in six areas.... safety, freedom, connection, feeling needed, growth and healing. While I could admit that one of them was lower than I wanted, the rest were not only high, for two I drew past the ten to an unmarked twelve. I feel completely safe with him. More than safe. He guards my freedom in the extreme, almost too much if that is even possible. 

Looking at my complaints obliterates any chance of finding what I have to be grateful for. What a colossal waste of time.