how dare I: Thanksgiving Thursday

Last night I was half-watching television, puttering around my living room and trying to make room for a new desk I'll soon be buying. How can we have so much stuff? And so little space? Someday . . . someday we'll have a house bigger than a singlewide mobile home, where my workspace has to tuck into a corner.

Then a sweet voice caught my attention. American Idol. A sparkly-dressed, braided, bravely smiling young woman. "I live in a tent deep in the woods," she said.

The judges and I paused. Blinked.

"Yeah," she said, gaze steady. The program cut to footage of her home, nestled in a forest of green, her belongings neatly hidden in plastic tubs and even one wooden dresser. Her boyfriend stokes the campfire as she pets their puppy. "Our bathroom? It's allll out there," she laughs, pointing to the trees and grass.

She didn't say why. What happened. Her boyfriend works full-time and scrounges up extra work on the weekends when he can, just trying to make enough to buy groceries and toiletries.

The sparkly dress and strappy shoes? Her boyfriend's mother found them for her. She said she'd never dressed so fancy in her life.

And her voice? Tough, tender, rough, sweet. Her dream of singing? Well, it keeps her hope alive.

How dare I ever complain about too much stuff? Too little space? Not having good enough, big enough, beautiful enough?

Thank you for this roof, even if it shows speckles and spots of wear.
Thank you for these walls, even if they are scratched and dinged.
Thank you for the heater blasting, even if it cycles on when it shouldn't.
Thank you for electricity, comfortable couch and chairs and bed.
Thank you for the refrigerator filled with food that bores me.
Thank you for bills that come to a house almost paid off.

Thank you for every little thing I overlook,
complain about, worry over, and walk past
without a second glance.

And the dreams I put off
because of fear, doubt, disbelief?

They have no good reason
to wait.


Sprout is OUT! Sprout, my new online magazine, strives to uplift and inspire by cultivating color, beauty, and meaning in our daily lives. Issue 1 asks: what would happen if we faced every day with a spirit of celebration? Click here to visit Sprout's home base.