When my kids were little(r), I always insisted they say “thank you”. For everything. “Now, what do you say….?” C’mon parents…you know exactly what I am talking about, right? Every little piece of candy/sticker/trinket. Sheepish look and a whispered “thank you” will suffice.

So…what about us now? Why don’t we say “thank you” like we should? Like we always used to? I guess no one is breathing down our necks like they did when we were kids. So we slide by. And we consume and silently appreciate (or don’t) and we all too often fail to say, “thank you”.

So I’m gonna take a minute to do some thanks…

Thank you…

…husband…who neatly made our bed…including decorative pillows…after we both fell out of it at 4am this morning…

…chief resident… who saw every patient on the service before you went to a (irrelevant) mandatory class right after turnover conference

…middle son…who missed the bus this morning…cause mom had a 6:30am meeting and dad had to travel for work and we left y’all to fend for yourselves…Text: “Mom, I missed the bus but Mr. X [neighbor] is going to take me to school.” Parenting fail? Nope. Parenting win. Kiddo got to school on time even when momma and daddy working, cause kid is resourceful.

…neighbor who drove above mentioned kiddo to school. Obviously. (Thank you text sent to said neighbor. Love them…!!! )

…colleague who is working tirelessly on an IT project to make our patient list more functional…I finally had some hope when I printed that silly thing this morning

…co-chair of a committee I am on…we both missed our conference call today. After a few texts, we finally connected. A humble and wise co-conspirator in surgical education/fun/learning…always great to work together

…the hospital gym. Even though I didn’t make it there today…I usually do. And to know it’s there…with some treadmills and a few TVs for mindless, brain candy viewing when I finally set down the pager…maybe tomorrow…

…Red Robin server…probably the only fast-ish food restaurant my kids can agree on in a pinch…who brought our order out in waves…cause my oldest had to leave early…you get us…some To-Go…some To-Stay…all with a smile. Bless you…

…trauma friends across the nation…you inspire me. I emailed ya back with some ideas…the mountains in Aspen did us good…reconnecting…thinking…sharing…#westerntraumaassociation

…silence…quiet…these couple of moments when I am getting ready to crawl back into our bed that my sweet husband made so many hours ago…to read the book that our book club chose, which has brought me to tears more than once…

…thank you. Thank you Friends. Family. Patients. Thank you Nature. Home. Work. Thank you, Jesus, for all of it. All of the big and little things that I take for granted every day…”What do you say…?” Thank you. I say, Thank you.

Disclaimer: My viewpoints are not necessarily reflective of my employer, or any local, regional or national organization that I belong to. As a matter of fact, I pretty much just speak for myself. Please keep that in mind.