Tuesday, June 4, 2013

GRATITUDE TUESDAY

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I hope that GRATITUDE TUESDAY will become a regular feature on my blog. The Random Acts of Kindness blogfest last week was so great that I want to continue it in some form (Thank you, Middle Child). Besides, someone who means a great deal to me, someone I consider to be very wise, suggested I make gratitude a regular part of my blog. It makes sense to me. Back when I didn't have many followers, darling Rita at The Adventures of Cinderita allowed me to write a guest post for her blog. Many of you who have been with me through thick and thin and thicker started following me after you read the guest post. And what did I write about?

Gratitude!

So here's my story about gratitude; these events occurred yesterday.

I don't have a very big yard, so I try to take care of it myself. And when it gets so hot and humid that I can't deal with lovely Florida, I whine a bit and Favorite Young Man takes over the yard for a while. In spite of being a decrepit old woman, I enjoy it; it provides me with some exercise.

Me, on a good day


So yesterday morning found me scooping poop in the backyard (I wish Favorite Young Man would use a bathroom like the Z-Boys, but when nature calls, FYM takes it literally). Then I retrieved my trusty weed whipper from the garage and wreaked havoc on some grass and weeds.

Here I am, weed whipping away.
I think I might be doing something wrong.

Then I did something pretty dumb. I lifted the weed whipper to get some weeds sticking out from the trellis that surrounds the bottom of my deck. As I lowered the weed whipper, somehow I managed to swing it toward myself just enough so that I weed whipped my left leg.

OW, I said, and dropped the weed whipper. I lifted my pants leg. No blood. Just scratches. The weed whipper likes me, he really likes me, and he apologized immediately. My bad, I said. Not your fault, I said. Weed whipper hopped up and whipped back into the garage.

Being the handy dandy first-aid person that I am, I knew I didn't need to go to the emergency room (however, for those of you who are worriers, I promise that if I have any concerns about this injury I will see a doctor). So I took a shower, put antibiotic ointment on my leg (just in case), put a bandage over the injury to provide some protective padding for the boo boo, and then wrapped it in gauze.

I have to admit that the boo boo smarted. As the day went on, it hurt. Being on my leg too much wasn't a good idea, and it's still sore today. I've been icing it, but I'm sure I'll have a sonuvabitch of a bruise.

So here's my first point of gratitude. I did something not so smart. I wasn't seriously injured.

Then late in the afternoon, I was the recipient of a "random" act of kindness that was so cute.

I went to the grocery store to get a few things, and then went in the Panera on Roosevelt in Jacksonville to have a salad. And maybe a cookie. Because a boo boo gets better with a cookie.

I asked for a flower cookie. They're lemon flavored, and I love them. They were out, but no problem because I also happen to love shortbread. I told the cashier I would take shortbread instead. A man who walked past the cashier confirmed that at least one shortbread remained.

Then that shortbread had better have my name on it, I said. Meaning: Don't sell it to someone else or the decrepit old lady with a boo boo will have a fit.

I saw the corners of the man's mouth turn up. A minute later the folks working behind the counter were giggling. The man, who turned out to be the manager, had gone to get icing to put my name on the cookie.

Everyone told me to go ahead and sit down and someone would bring my cookie out to me. So there I was with my delicious salad.

nom, nom, nom

Kandice, the adorable cashier, delivered my cookie to me personally. Written in icing, it said: For Ms. Janie Junebug, Queen of Grammar And Everything Else In The Whole World. 

Now, how can I not be grateful for that? Those people didn't even know I'd gotten hurt, and they were so incredibly nice to me.

As I was leaving, I went to the counter to thank the manager. His name is Michael. He was so sweet, and suggested that the thanks should go to Kandice, who actually did the writing. So, of course, I thanked Kandice.

I'm sorry I didn't take photos of Michael and Kandice and my cookie, but even though I know how to take a photo with my phone, I don't know what to do to transfer the photos to another location when I need them.

This is what I looked like when I went in Panera:


I left, looking like this:



Thank you, Michael and Kandice and everyone who works at Panera at 4403 Roosevelt Blvd. in Jacksonville, Florida.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug


25 comments:

  1. I'm about 3,000 miles away from Panera, but if I lived closer, I'd definitely go there!! Hope your leg feels better soon!!

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    1. They have very good food -- simple and well made. And then there are the bagels and the bread and the cookies. All those lovely carbs I try to avoid.

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  2. I just emailed them a thank you!!

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    1. That's so sweet of you. Thank you. I'll stop by there in a couple of days with the URL for this post in case they want to read it.

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  3. What a cute post!

    I'm glad the weed whacker didn't whack you any harder.

    Those things can be scary.

    But nothing a cookie with your name on it can't fix.

    Thanks for the smile.

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    1. Thank you, Jenny! Cookies make the world a better place. I think we could achieve world peace if everyone would sit down at the same time every day for milk and cookies.

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  4. You need to put a warning at the beginning of your posts. I literally snorted water up my nose from laughing. That's what I get for trying to drink water and read your hilarity.

    That's a wonderful thing they did for you with the cookie. And I hope the booboo gets better, and quick.

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    1. My boo boo feels better already. I've been resting and elevating my leg. It's such a good excuse not to clean house. As for the warning about posts, I wouldn't know when to issue one. I've only written one post that made me laugh out loud. The rest of the time, I think I'm mildly amusing at best. Of course, The Hurricane says, Mom, I know you think you're funny, but you're not.

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  5. Gratitude is the right attitude, and with enough of it, life seems to get better and better.

    (All I can say is... that musta been one big-ass cookie.)

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    1. Well, maybe I embellished (not lied) a little bit about what was written on the cookie.

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  6. Cookies always help when I have a boo boo! Here's a virtual kiss for yours, because everybody knows a mama's kiss makes everything better! KISS!

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    1. A mama's kiss is as good as a cookie. Maybe even better.

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  7. I've posted on my using the weed-wacker before. I'm surprised you Democrats, who try to control every aspect of our lives, haven't passed a law making it illegal to use a weed-wakcer in shorts. Being a Republican (mostly) I found out on my own that shorts are not good when weeding. All by myself without gubment interference.

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    1. Sweetheart, I don't wear shorts when I work in the yard. I was wearing pants, and I'm sure they helped to protect me. No one from the government had to tell me to wear pants when I work in the yard.

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  8. I have weed whipped myself before... and not in a kinky way either. :) It's not a good thing AT ALL. But after the bruise sets up a bit, it's not so bad.

    And I agree, all boo boos are better with a little sugar. :)

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    1. Nothing kinky going on here, either. At least not that I can remember after I get drunk every night. Oops! That was supposed to be a secret.

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  9. I'm glad your getting better.

    I like the Mediterranean Sandwich and the Asian Salad. Hope that's what they are called because I'm too lazy to check.

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    1. Whatever the heck they are called it doesn't matter as long as you get what you want, my dear.

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  10. I love that you will do Gratitude on your blog, dear Janie Junebug. I believe that Gratitude is very important and I'm looking forward to being reminded of it here. I'm beginning to feel the Random Acts of Kindness in my soul and I believe that your middle child has gotten us old ladies going on something really great here.

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  11. I could tell you stories about getting wacked with the weed-eater, as I used to work with hubby many eons ago, when he had a landscaping business. Those little buggers hurt like heck. I love Panera, I always drag hubby (the same one with the landscaping business) there, I never get tired of their sandwiches and salads, and their bread is to super good. I'm very grateful there are 3 Paneras within a short distance form my house....:)

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    1. Jacksonville has a lot of Paneras. They're in every part of the city. I'm glad I'm not the only one who weed whipped myself (not that I want anyone else getting hurt).

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  12. Love this gratitude story--and the idea of doing this every week...absolutely awesome!! Love it! I've never heard of a personalized cookie gift--so cool!! You deserved it. :):)

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  13. I am going to go to my local Panera and have a flower cookie in your honor and in celebration of the kindness from your store :)

    I've whipped my dang leg with the dang weed whacker and it does hurt! I can't wait until it gets hot and dry enough that my grass will start frying and stop growing, making weed whacking not necessary! Sorry you got a boo boo!

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    1. Oh, I love it when the grass stops growing, but it doesn't happen very often here because we get so much rain during the summer.

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