by D, Sacramento
This topic made me think a little about the people in my life, who I may not openly appreciate. I am thankful for a lot of things and a lot of people, but only me and God know when it comes to it. The person who I am most thankful for is my granny. She stepped into my life as a motherly figure since I didn’t have one.
Of course, it wasn’t the same because instead of being too focused on specifically one child, she had to focus on her seven children who are adults and her nineteen grandchildren, including me. But I appreciate the effort, that’s what counts to me. I also am thankful for my father.
We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, and disagreements, but at the end of the day, that’s still my pops. I know a lot of people who didn’t have a father in their life, or they barely had a relationship with them. I also know some people whose fathers died when they were young because they were too busy in the streets.
I also got a certain respect for my pops because even though he sold dope throughout like half of my life, as I got to my preteen stage, he changed his life and got a job. We struggled during that point, I’m not gonna lie, but it takes a real man to not turn back to that life. I respect that a lot and I’m thankful for him. He’s one of the only people who actually stayed by my side throughout my whole time here (five hundred fifty days), consistently being here for me even on my worse days.
And when it comes to the little things, like a lot of people take it for granted. It’s like you never notice how convenient it is to you until it’s gone. We look past a lot of things acting like we are entitled to such things. Now I try to thank God for even the smallest things I don’t think of when I pray. Like just getting another day to be alive, being in good health, having no mental or physical disabilities. And I just thank Him because things could be worse, very worse.
So as I start to look at life differently, I like to be thankful and grateful for things I may not usually appreciate before they are taken away. And I advise you to do the same.