As the final hours of the year slide quietly away, it is only human to look back, tracing the paths of our days, sifting through moments that have shaped us. With the twilight of 2025 upon us, will you gather at a humble or grand table, surrounded by laughter, silence, or absence? Perhaps you have already counted your blessings—each one a dim light in the dark. Or maybe your mind is busy weaving hopeful blueprints for the dawn of 2026. Just the other day, I watched the children in CoComelon sing their gratitude for life’s simplest gifts—things we often overlook, absorbed as we are in our hurried routines. How easily we forget that wonder. If we slow down, just for a little time, we all have so many things to be grateful for. Even the most ordinary blessings are worth our quiet thanks. In this spirit of reminiscence, my heart swells with gratitude for more than I can name, but here are a few gifts that shine especially bright: Sanity Good health A job/craft The gift of memor...
As the
final hours of the year slide quietly away, it is only human to look back, tracing
the paths of our days, sifting through moments that have shaped us. With the
twilight of 2025 upon us, will you gather at a humble or grand table,
surrounded by laughter, silence, or absence? Perhaps you have already counted
your blessings—each one a dim light in the dark. Or maybe your mind is busy
weaving hopeful blueprints for the dawn of 2026.
Just the
other day, I watched the children in CoComelon sing their gratitude for life’s
simplest gifts—things we often overlook, absorbed as we are in our hurried
routines. How easily we forget that wonder. If we slow down, just for a little
time, we all have so many things to be grateful for. Even the most ordinary
blessings are worth our quiet thanks.
Sanity
Good
health
A
job/craft
The gift
of memories
The
ability to experience time in the present, remember the past, and hope for the
future.
The grace:
sometimes elusive, to hold things together, and even the mercy of falling apart
when we do.
Gratitude
does not require comparison or perfection. You need not wait for dreams to
bloom or for fortunes to arrive. Thankfulness lives not in the grandeur of
possessions, but in the modest rhythm of each ordinary day. As Martina's story
will soon remind us, life can test our gratitude in unexpected ways. Yet, it is
often through these trials that we discover the true strength of our
thankfulness, where even the most challenging days reveal the essential blessings,
we hold dear.
Martina feels fine, healthy, with a little swelling in her right hallux. Her husband prompts her to ring her doctor, and she reluctantly does so, assured it’s only a bruise from putting on heels regularly lately. She visits her doctor, telling him she needs to be out of the hospital before lunchtime for a work meeting.
‘I know
what’ll solve this is some pain killers and then fewer heels and then, viola!
Really, Doc, I feel fine. I’m here, so there’ll be peace at home. You know how
Harry is like with health issues.’
The doctor
takes a closer look at his patient and asks:
‘Tina, how
long have you had that swelling for?’
‘Would say
about a week or thereabout, why?’
‘Do you
feel weak, tired often, or...?
‘I’ve
never been better, you see. I am, I, am...’
And then, in an unguarded moment, Martina slumps in her chair. The doctor rushes to her side, urgent voices filling the room. In a blur, blood is drawn, machines beep, and Martina drifts beyond reach, away in her own unknown universe.
‘We’ll need to begin broad-spectrum antibiotics on her,’ Doc says to Harry after he speedily appears in the room upon receiving a call about his wife.
Martina’s
husband will be the conveyor of the news to his wife when she finally opens her
eyes hours later.
‘Hey
sweetie, how do you feel?’
‘You’re
here! What’s, why do I feel like I’m drifting away, somewhere?’
‘You’re
going to be okay, sweetie. Trust me.’
‘Then why
do you have that look, it’s the same one when puppy died?’
‘You’re
not leaving me yet to the wishes of this wicked world, sweetie.’
‘Spill it
out then!’
‘It’s
sepsis, sweetie. We must fight back, now...’
Thus began the long, uncertain days of medical battles: ventilators humming, surgery lights glaring, and doctors striving to save her. In the end, she lost her foot, a piece of herself given up for the sake of survival. On that first morning without it, she reached instinctively to scratch an itch, only to pause and face the truth of her new reality. Yet, through every appointment and night spent beneath the hospital’s sterile lights, Martina held tightly to her husband and to the thought of her son, away serving in the army. No illness could steal her longing to see him again. Though her heels would gather dust, Martina’s spirit never yielded to anguish. When her son finally returned, she understood gratitude thrives not in what we keep, but in what and whom we hold dear, no matter what life takes away. That tight hug was consolation enough for all the battles fought.
As we all hope for the best this coming year, may the spirit of humanity be healthy in us. May our nights be spotted with enough stars to guide us, and may every rain bring not flood, but the promise of rainbows. Let our worth be found not in what is seen, but in the strength that endures. May our cups brim with hope, even in the deserts of our days. May we shine as beacons for others and may grace meet us at every turn. Don’t forget to count as many blessings as you can, naming them one by one. Wishing you a new year radiant with joy and possibility—from Emmawad.
Don’t Forget to Be Honest!
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