by Erica Mazzeo
There are so many reasons
not to be grateful.
To make the choice, to turn your head
and pretend to look the other way.
There are things like:
deserts, uphill climbs, walled in gardens and
mudslides.
Torrential downpour, a frozen tundra, pain, fear.
But when you find a way to catapult
over the wall - stop and taste the cool rain on your tongue.
To crawl through the desert thirsty but fearless -
then you've found gratitude.
It's usually amidst all of lifes junk.
Tucked away and hidden
- retreated like a treasure we must find.
So we take out our shovels, drills and cranes,
head lamps and giant raincoats - hoping to
extract the point of the story or
excavate the minor detail we must have overlooked.
Even after searching last Christmas to
and fro, for the perfect gifts --
in a moment of panic a young indian clerk rang me up
explaining how his family was not around
this holiday season.
He said "..how lucky your family all together at one dinner table."
I replied, "ah....such stress..."
and he just sort of laughed to himself, nodded his head at the register,
and as he handed me my receipt he said,
"Merry Christmas Ms."
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