Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf

It was an unusual week. On Monday I was lunching with a friend and she said to me, “Let’s go and take that evergreen tree down in the front of your house.” She was referring to a small, scrawny half-dead tree whose top reached to the eave spouts on my house.  For the past three years we were going to take the tree down and it never happened. She knew this.

I looked at her in amazement and said, “It’s cold out.”

She answered, “It’s not bad and the sun is shining.”

I answered, “It’s 2 pm., and it gets dark early.” She gave me the look. I finally agreed. So there we were, chopping down an evergreen tree on a blustery Monday afternoon. It took an hour and a half, and my friend was right. It was refreshing.

Later that day I visited a friend that is ill. It was a good visit and we shared hearts and feelings and words that needed to be said before we ran out of time.

In the middle of the week I decided my hair needed a little refreshing by my hairdresser. As I left the salon on the way to my car, I was shocked when a flaming laundry cart shot out of the laundromat door. It was pushed by an unknown man. I stopped before proceeding across the street to my car, which was sitting right in front of the laundromat and off to the side of the cart. The wind blew the now unmanned cart into the street and toward my car. I froze thinking my car might become toast, but the minute the cart hung up on the street I hurried across the street, hopped in and carefully moved my vehicle making sure it didn’t come near the flaming cart. In hindsight I wish I would have filmed it. I would never be any good filming a police officer on a traffic stop. It appears my brain leaves me when something unusual happens. I felt the men in the laundromat had it under control so I didn’t follow my inkling to call the fire department.

The next unusual sighting happened on the way to Albert Lea the next day when we saw an empty car along the side of the road and a short way behind the car was a highway patrolman standing by his car with his rifle. I didn’t stop to ask what was happening. I wasn’t on a need-to-know basis.

Fast forward an hour or two while I was eating lunch. My new glasses broke and popped off my head. No one was touching them. It was as if the ghost of glasses decided to strike. The bow actually broke off the glasses and that is what made them fall on the floor. It’s was a good thing I trusted the restaurant since it was hard to see what I was eating.

This is the time of year we think about what we are grateful for. Of course we are thankful all year long but Thanksgiving week we take more time to focus on our blessings in the small and large happenings in our life.

I am thankful for a friend who likes to think outside of the box and knows we can stretch ourselves to tackle a project which is out of our comfort zone. It was her encouraging words that convinced me we were up to the task of taking down a small tree.

I am blessed to have a beautiful friend for 24 years who taught me about having faith in God. My faith was strengthened by the way she lives her life and treats others. Our visit was a gift.

I was thankful the flaming cart didn’t hit my car and the people in the laundromat weren’t hurt and the laundromat didn’t burn down.

I am thankful we have police and emergency personnel protecting us in our homes and communities and on our highways.

My glasses couldn’t have broken at a better time. We were mere blocks from the store which sold me my glasses, and they immediately changed frames and replaced them. Warranties are wonderful and these frames seem to fit better than the others ever did.

It is amazing how our lives are blessed in good times and bad if we look and listen to the whisper of those blessings. I myself experienced many blessings in a short period of time. Has the same thing happened to you?

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. — William Arthur Ward

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a lifetime of gratitude.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at hermionyvidaliabooks@gmail.com.