Gratitude Challenge -- Day 15 -- Silly but sincere...

1.  Learning to tie my shoes.  Don't laugh--it is a handy skill!  I hated it when shoes came out with velcro fasteners.  I liked twirling those little laces around into a fancy bow.  And for a short time--a very short time--the world, i.e. U.S. citizens--thought that velcro would solve all major problems....  As my mind darts to and fro with memories of shoe laces and the verb of tying, I think of one incident when I was 12...  I was sitting next to a friend--a really good friend as a matter of fact--and bent to tighten one of my laces.  Her feet were just beside mine, and a temptation lay before me--much too obvious to ignore.   As I leaned over, I reached for her laces and tied them together.  She didn't notice until she turned to hurriedly get up--where upon she flat out.   So perhaps that memory needs to go in the discard file.  None-the-less, I'm still thankful for the ability to tie shoes...

Learning how to love is like learning how to tie your shoes, 

and that’s precisely why I wear slippers.”

                                ― Jarod Kintz

2.  Hope Chests.  There is something romantic about them.  Open them and you think of your wedding, your gown, the colors you'll use, the food you'll serve, etc etc.  I'm not even sure young girls know of them today.  I had a Hope Chest--well, truthfully, it was more like a junk drawer at the bottom of my dresser.  I think I was about eight when I first mentioned it to my grandmother.  Grandma, do you have anything for my Hope Chest?  Or as I stood looking into her china cupboard longingly, Grandma, you never use that.  Could I have it for my hope chest?  Over the years, during a few of her more generous moments, my grandmother gave me a small dish, a cooking utensil and a pillowcase.   The summer I turned 15, our family moved from Ohio to Oregon.  I had to go through all I owned since there was little room for most of our possessions.  I looked in the bottom drawer with a heavy heart.  The task turned out to be very easy.  Evidently Grandma was only partially generous in her giving.  I pulled out a cracked bowl, a bent cooking utensil and a stained pillowcase.  Not much of a Hope Chest -- but I can smile at the memories!