I have decided I would like to write about something I am grateful for. Today seems like a good day to think about being grateful, and write a little about it. I am grateful for most things in my life, and I thought picking something should be easy to do. But thinking about what I am grateful for, and actually writing it down seems to be two different things. There are so many things to be grateful for in life! At the same time so many of these things are so trivial compared to what I see going on in the lives of others. My life, like many people’s life is made up of a compilation of minutiae, and there is no one area that usually takes up most of my time. So I thought to myself what big thing am I especially grateful for no matter when? I will write about that.

Because the weather is starting to cool down, and winter approaches, I have been thinking about the holidays fast approaching. That led me to people working on holidays. I am grateful for those people who work on holidays. They keep convenience stores, grocery stores, and sometimes even the big stores open. I have been too spoiled on many holidays, so some holidays I forget to plan ahead. I get off work on a holiday, and I need something. I need gasoline for the car because I did not think the night before and I am driving out of town for the day. Or I have to get some eggs, milk, tortillas, or bread, because I worked all week and the refrigerator is almost empty. More often then not, there is something I need on a holiday – such is modern life.

Of course when I am not working on a holiday there is the movie theatre that is open because people are working. Maybe even book stores, and occasionally home improvement stores are open if they think they will do enough business. The list always changes of who is open on a particular holiday. This is great for me, because on a holiday when something goes wrong, breaks, or just plain needs fixing I can get it done. Being able to get a part(s) for whatever it is sure makes my life easier and I am grateful for that.

When I am working a holiday, it is just like any other work day. Well almost like any other work day. I am working and it seems ninety-nine percent of the rest of the world is not. On work days just like some other days, lunch time rolls around and I have no lunch. I sure am grateful for the people who work in the food service industry. They show up when they want to be home too, but they show up and I can have lunch. I know some people are working because it is not a holiday they celebrate. Others are working because they can not afford not to work. And still others are working, because like me when I work, they could not get off this time.

I mostly wish these folks did not have to work. I remember as a child almost no business was open on a major holiday. Perhaps one gas station would be open on any holiday, but that would be it. I remember feeling bad because I knew they were open just for people like my family when we went for gas. No one I knew traveled anywhere on a holiday, so it had to be people like us they stayed open for. It felt almost a little criminal to make them work when were enjoying a holiday. In most cases if we did not have milk, eggs, or whatever else we needed, we made do until the next day.

Times of course have changed, but my feelings about going to a store on a holiday have not. I still have a twinge of guilt when I have to stop for gas, milk, and such. At least now I have grown to the point where I am grateful for the people who are there for me on holidays, so I can get what I need or want. I am grateful for all these people who work holidays. If you are one of these people, thank you very much!

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