The Attitude of Gratitude...AND the Kitchen Sink!
This weekend I did what many others around the world set out to do...prepare to host family for the holiday weekend feast. So I started doing all the necessary things you do when you're preparing meals for a party of 20, you prep the night before. I had everything figured out- my lists prepared with all items purchased, all the ingredients, serving-ware... everything. I even had time allotted in increments of what I could prepare as early as Friday night, and what would have to be spaced out throughout the day on Saturday to allow everything to be ready by 7pm, just in time for our gathering. I was determined to be the task master, to get everything prepped and cooked and served just in time. After all, I'd done this a thousand times before, so this would've been a piece a' cake....except for the one thing, the unexpected.
As it turns out, my kitchen sink had other thoughts. Friday night it decided it had had ENOUGH. It wasn't budging. It's not that it didn't dispense water- that wasn't the issue, it was that it didn't want to drain. At all. No plunger would work, no Draino, nothing. A sudden feeling of terror gripped me as it dawned on me how everything in the kitchen essentially revolved around 2 areas- the oven, and THE KITCHEN SINK. The oven could actually be replaced with a barbeque, a slow cook, an air fryer, but the kitchen sink really had no replacement. As I began planning around shuttling pots back and forth up to the basement sink for rinsing, it dawned on me how something as simple as the kitchen sink, which we took for granted everyday, and which was quite essential in our lives, was something we assumed was always going to be there, working, doing the necessary work, with little appreciation. What a time to learn this lesson- the worst of times, but also the best of times. Sometimes life hands you that swift kick in the rear when you least want or expect it. At 3pm, 4 hours before our party arrived, my husband miraculously got it working again by using an electric snake and some draining liquid. At that moment, no birthday gift would've been more precious to me than a working kitchen sink!
So the big lesson I learned that day was that nothing beats an attitude of gratitude, even for the little things we have, yes, including the kitchen sink. We oftentimes wait for the grand gestures, the large items to make us happy, but it's the million little things that matter even more than the big things. It's the 5 second shoulder massage you get from your son while you're washing the dishes, your daughter offering to windex your windows right before guests arrive, your sister putting away dishes after the dinner party....and the kitchen sink working like a dream! I generally feel grateful for all of God's blessings- the big things he's bestowed upon me and my family, the friends, the relationships I've made over the years, the success I've achieved over time- yet the little things throughout the day often give me the most joy. The sight of the first tulip blooming, the buzzing sound of the lawn mowing of the neighbor's yard signifying the beginning of spring, the sound of the ice cream man truck music as kids clamor to get their treats, the smell of the barbecue grilling mid-day...and the endless treats to our eyes, ears and noses throughout each day. So during this special holiday season, I'm reminded to be even more grateful than before, for the things we take for granted that we have, all that's working and that could suddenly stop working for us- the electricity that lights up our homes and works our appliances, the heat that keeps us warm, the mail delivered to our doors, and...the kitchen sink. Everything AND the KITCHEN SINK! Nothing beats an attitude of gratitude.
