One Woman s View: Give thanks for and to
Contributing writer
"I thank my God every time I remember you." Phil. 1:3
In reading the letters of St. Paul did you ever notice how often he says something similar? Among the many blessings for which you will give thanks to God this Thanksgiving, I'll bet a lot of them are people. I know mine are. Have you also taken a tip from St. Paul and told those people they are near the top of your list of blessings? A few times I have, but not nearly often enough. I have a feeling I may not be unusual in this respect. Yet a few words of appreciation can warm the heart and make the day.
Dan Tooker, the morning disc jockey on KFDI, invited people to send in the name of someone they wished to thank, and he would arrange to have both parties on the air for a public thank you. I didn't send anyone in for two reasons. For one thing the logistics of getting us both on the air seemed daunting. For another, there is no way I could name only one person to receive my thanks. All my life I have been the beneficiary of kindness from all sorts of people, starting with the couple who gave me my first doll for my first Christmas when I was four months old. A few years later the same couple took me to the circus. My eighth grade teacher thought of a way to let me earn the money for an excursion my parents couldn't afford. The first couple have gone to their reward, but the kind teacher has celebrated her 90th birthday and still dispenses kindness and caring to all who cross her path.
In my present life there is a large circle of friends who help me with all the things difficult for a woman alone to accomplish. This summer I was occupied with doctors, tests, and surgeries, and the grass in my yard got pretty long. Just when I began looking around for a teen who wanted a lawn-mowing job, someone would show up and mow it without charge. Sometimes I would come home and find it mowed in my absence. It began to remind me of one of my favorite childhood fairy tales, "The Shoemaker and the Elves." My lawn-mowing elves included Nathan Brunner, Jonas and Kim Frantz, and Greg Berens. Thank God for them.
I hesitate to start naming others who have helped me with things like household maintenance and chauffeuring me to doctor's appointments, when I faced tests or procedures which might make me too exhausted to drive home. I always can call on Autumn Chisholm or any of the Oborny clan, as well as those already mentioned as my lawn-mowing elves.
During my husband's long illness and mental decline, he seemed to find it hard to accept help from me and many other people, but felt comfortable relying on Jesse Brunner for everything. When he wanted something done, he sometimes expected Jesse to drop everything and do it now. More often than not, Jesse did. I don't know how we could have come through those months without him. I also remember Willis and Eleanor Herbel as rocks for me to lean on through that difficult time.
When I was getting ready for my auction this past year, the Frantzes and Obornys probably put in more time than I did, and many others stopped by to help for an hour or two now and then. Tim Svoboda and John Varelman fixed the big rear tire on the old tractor, a hard job for which they had the necessary expertise. When I've had trouble starting my lawn mower at different times, Russ Kerbs and Ty Peterson have stopped to help. And let's not forget Walt Dietrich and Wilbert Backhus, who straightened out my garage door after I backed my car into it. (Don't ask!) These are just the people and occasions which leap to mind at the moment. There are many, many others. If your name isn't here, don't think for a minute I'm not grateful. "I thank my God every time I remember you."
Of course, there have been other friends from the past living away from here who have done their share of shoring me up. My friend Madeline Stuive always is there for me, the most recent instance being allowing me to stay with her on my release from the hospital after my mastectomy. On the morning of my first surgery, Twyla Brown showed up from Wichita, and for my second surgery, Wendy Stroede came down from Kanopolis.
Friends like this are among God's richest blessings. I may not tell them often enough how grateful I am for and to them, but if they read this column I'm telling them now.
Don't you have people like that in your life, people who have made a big difference in your life for one reason or another? Thank God for them this Thanksgiving, and (equally important) let them know that you do.
