Thanks

     I would like to devote this blog entry to the word "Thanks."  Thanks is a humble little word.  Webster's defines thanks as "an expression of gratitude."  It is a word that has an equivalent in almost all the languages of the world.  It was one of the few expressions in Mandarin that I learned before I went to China to adopt my daughter.  "She-she" is the word I learned.  I used it as often as I could.  I was so grateful for the opportunity to become a mother.  As far as I was concerned, everyone I came in contact with in China deserved to hear that word from me.  To me it was the effort of many that made my heart's desire come true.  Often it didn't seem like enough, but to many of these people it meant the world.  The people that I met while I was in China were some of the kindest people I had ever known.  They were so eager to help, and they seemed so happy that one little girl was going to have a "happy life" in America.  She-she: thanks was used liberally on both sides, for twelve magical days.
     When I was a little girl my mother always made me write thank you notes after my birthday and Christmas, or really anytime I received a gift from someone. She told me one time that when I was really little she would just have me write the word "Thanks" on a note card and then write my name.  As I grew older the notes became a little more detailed.  I remember finding a neat little bundle of thank you notes that I had written to my grandmother as we went through her things after she died.  It touched my heart that she had saved everyone.  I'm sure it must have touched her heart that I had written them in the first place.  Again a small gesture that meant so much.
     As we get nearer to Thanksgiving is there anyone that you would like to thank?  If there is, take the time to do that.  It's a small gesture that means so much.  I'll get the ball rolling, Thank you to five very special people and they are Andy Shaw, Lu Yueh Sheng, Jessamy Austin, Sally Ratledge and Patty Reese.  These five people have supported my blog project all year long and I would just like you to know how much your support means to me.  You will forever be my Top Five.  Thank you for following it means the world to me.  Sally, a special thanks for you for being the First of the Top Five!  To all of my facebook friends that have clicked on that "Like" button on The Half Full Glass' page thank you, especially to my friend Daff O'Dille - you were my first like and for me that was exciting!  Kate, I'd like to thank you too for helping me navigate Acrobat.  I know all the frustration will be worth it in the end.  Lastly,  thanks to all of you that read my blog all over the world.  It's so fun to click and see where in the world people are reading.  It makes me smile every time, and it keeps me writing!  As long as you read I will write.  Cheers!