Thankful Thoughts

It's been interesting to read the postings on facebook about what people are thankful for. I'm not that public a person so I'm simply recording in my daily journal those things that I'm most thankful at the moment or what has struck me as a particular blessing that day. Besides all the obvious blessings in my life of family, the gospel, abundance, freedom and good health, one thing struck me this week that I've decided I take for granted. They replaced a power pole in our back yard - it was one of those very tall utility poles that brings electricity to the homes on our street. We were "fortunate" enough to have it in our back yard for the last 28 years we've lived in this house. You can see it when you look out our big glass doors in the living room that overlook the pool and gardens unless your eyes are drawn to something more beautiful - then it is sort of invisible, snuggled against the 9 foot back fence. Of course, we see it. Glenn even painted it a redwood color up to the fence line hoping that would be less conspicuous. But it had been there since the house was built in 1974 so it needed to be replaced. They brought in a huge crane - big enough to lift that 50 or 60 foot pole over our tall trees in the front yard (think two story house or taller) and over our house. They took the old one out, replace it with a new one (the pole man called it a beautiful new pole) and restored our power. This all took from 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon so we were without power all that time. What to do while we had no power? Couldn't vacuum - could dust and clean bathrooms. Couldn't get on the computer. Couldn't have phone calls on our land line. Could wash windows. Couldn't do laundry. Decided to just go to the Family History Center and work on Glenn's family tree. We met for lunch when he finished golfing and came home - to a very cool house and still not able to do anything.....but read! Thank heaven for books!! But I realized how much we take for granted those things that are so important in our lives. Fortunately it was a beautiful day so we opened the sliding doors and let the sun shine in and warm us up. Basically we had no heat, no communication (thank heaven for cell phones!) no power to cook with, no lights if it got dark before they finished. We are so dependent on these modern conveniences. Then I thought of hospitals with their dependency on power, and streets with stop lights, and schools with the teaching innovations of today. Our society depends so much on this wonderful convenience! So this week I added that to my list of things I'm thankful for, and every time I flip on a light or turn up the heat, or open the refrigerator or freezer, or sit down at my computer, or pick up the phone to call someone,I acknowledge what an incredible time we live in! My Great-grandmother would have delighted in all my everyday conveniences!