At the start of 2016, inspired by a friend, I started a daily gratitude challenge – posting one thing that I was thankful for each day on Instagram. I enjoyed it so much that when I reached the end of that year, I carried on and have kept going ever since. Finding one little thing to be thankful for each day has now become part of my daily routine and I’ve loved seeing friends joining in along the way too.
Finding something to be grateful for each day isn’t about trying to give the impression that life is perfect and wonderful. It isn’t. Those little moments of gratitude can be hard to find at times; particularly after my eldest daughter Jessica died in April 2018. Some days, I struggle to find my grateful moment; some days I just feel broken and bruised. But even when it has been hard to do, I have still managed to find something. Even if it is something small, and silly, and trivial.
Jessica was an inspiration to me throughout her short life. She had so much strength and such a wonderful zest for life. Her godmother described her once as a “joy carrier” and it was the perfect description for her. She was a little ray of sunshine, full of smiles and gave joy to all who knew her. I am, and will always be, grateful to be her mummy. She taught me to enjoy the little moments and to make the most of everyday because tomorrow is never promised. And even though having to live life without Jessica is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do, I will continue to look for those little things to be thankful for, and keep going with this challenge in honour of my beautiful brave girl.
Here are my grateful moments from the past week:
Day 68 – I am grateful for a fun afternoon at Milestones museum.
Day 69 – I am grateful for my wonderful mum and for being able to surprise her with a visit on her birthday.
Day 70 – I am grateful for adorable new dungarees for Thomas from Nanny.
Day 71 – I am grateful for paper and pencils. So lovely to see how much Thomas enjoys mark-making.
Day 72 – I am grateful for Sophie’s joy at moving up another reading level on to gold books.
Day 73 – I am grateful that the evenings are getting lighter.
Day 74 – I am grateful that getting the 12-18 months clothes down from the loft for Thomas meant we finally got around to putting the Christmas decorations up there and now have a bit more space in the spare room again.
Aww! What lovely photos.
So lovely that you got to visit your mum on her birthday.
Thomas is looking so grown up now. What a sweetheart. x
Thanks Kim, he’s getting so big now x
Lovely that you and your mum could get together for her birthday. It’s so nice to get the lighter days isn’t it. Well done Sophie with her reading.
I’m so glad I did manage to surprise her with a visit. Not sure when I’ll get to see her next now 🙁
Aww lots of lovely smiley photos this week ! xx
Thank you Cheryl x
Well done to Sophie on moving up a reading level! Thomas looks sooo cute! How lovely that you had a chance to see your Mum on her birthday. My Mum’s birthday is coming later this spring, but as we live thousands of miles apart, we won’t be able to see each other any time soon.
That must be hard. I’m glad I did visit my mum on her birthday – not sure when I’ll be able to next go and see her.
Well done to Sophie on her reading. I’m grateful that the evenings are getting lighter too.
It is lovely to have the lighter evenings.
Love those dungarees. Well done Sophie on her reading, I wish my son wasn’t still so reluctant to read anything #366
Thank you. The dungarees are my favourite item of Thomas’s clothing at the moment 🙂
Love those dungarees. Happy belated birthday to your mum.
Doubt there will be many museums open any longer so good timing
I’m glad we took the opportunity to visit while we still could.
The museum sounds interesting. Happy birthday to your mum! The dungarees look adorable. Great reading, Sophie!
It was a lovely day out. Not sure when we’ll manage to do something like that again.
Lovely you got to see your mum on her birthday. i loved the hand me downs and clothes stored from older siblings, love the dungarees
I’m so glad that I did surprise her – it’s hard not knowing when I will be able to go and see her again though.
Ooh, we love Milestones and had planned to go in Easter but looks unlikely now 🙁 I have clothes all over the house as we have never got rid of any when they get outgrown. #project366
We have a lot of clothes up in the loft although my nephew has two girls with a similar age gap to my girls so I’m now passing on a lot of their stuff.