Thankful Jar — Jenni Elyse

Mom Jackson (My Dad's Mom) I’m kind of lucky in the sense that I have three sets of grandparents instead of two, but unlucky in the sense that I only knew my mom’s mom, my mom’s stepmom, and my mom’s stepdad. My other three grandparents died before I was born or shortly after so I never had a chance to get to know them.

My oldest three sisters and my brother were born before Mom Jackson, my dad’s mom, passed away from stomach cancer. My brother was only five when she died so I’m not sure if he remembers her all that well. From the stories my parents and older siblings tell me, she sounds like an amazing lady and I wish I would’ve had the chance to know her. I’m told quite often that I look like her and one of my great-grandparents.

Poppo (My Dad's Dad) Poppo, my dad’s dad, died when I was three years old. My only specific memory of him, and it’s really more of an endowment than a memory, is the Indian name he gave me as a baby. Every time a grandchild was born, he’d give that child an Indian name because our family has Cherokee or Choctaw ancestry. (I can never remember which one.) My name is Singing Bird, which I think suits me fairly well since I like to talk so much. My dad has continued this tradition and given each of my nieces and nephews an Indian name as well. I also still have the card Poppo gave me on my first birthday and I get it out every now and then to read it.

Last year, Grandma Peterson, my mom’s stepmom, passed away. Out of all of my grandparents, I was closest to her because we lived close by and did things with her fairly often. As I stated in the post about her passing away, I have many fond memories of her, especially her tenacity. And, anyone who knew her will agree with that statement.

Grandpa Peterson, my mom’s dad, passed away a little over three years before I was born. He was a Sargent in the US Army during World War II. He traveled a lot while he was in the Army and one of the places he had a chance to go to was India. While he was there, he bought my mom a necklace made out of the ivory from elephant tusks. When I was little, I always admired this necklace and asked if I could wear it so my mom gave it to me about five years ago. It’s one of my most treasured possessions because it links me to my grandpa.

Mimi, my mom’s mom, passed away nearly ten years ago. I used to collect Cabbage Patch Dolls when I was little and I bought my first one with the silver dollars she and my grandpa gave me for birthdays and Christmases. Because I didn’t like the name that came with my doll (Lombardo Corey), I didn’t have a lot of doll clothes for boys, and he was a premie and therefore bald, I renamed “him” Mary Alice, which is Mimi’s given name. After I bought the doll, I was so excited to introduce “her” to Mimi. I remember that Mimi was delighted with my doll, which meant a lot to me.

Grandpa Bob, my mom’s stepdad, is the only living grandparent I have at this time. I have (had) a much closer relationship with him than any of my other siblings because I’m the same age as his two grandsons, which makes me feel special as I sometimes don’t feel like I belong in my family since I’m so much younger than all my siblings.

Grandpa Bob would always spoil me when I was younger. As I mentioned above, he and Mimi gave me silver dollars for my birthdays and Christmases. I probably had ten before I spent them, which I wish now I had kept. He also let me ride his motorcycle, which I loved, and gave me $50 when I was sixteen or seventeen so I would enjoy a trip to San Francisco with my parents more.

Unfortunately, over the years, I have lost touch with him. And, around two weeks ago, I thought about writing him. This thought has been at the back of my mind since I thought about it. When I pulled out my second scroll for November this morning, I was delighted it said, “I’m thankful for grandparents: Write a letter to one of them and tell them you’re grateful for and you love them!” I finished writing my letter about an hour ago and I’m very excited to mail it tomorrow. I hope I hear from Grandpa Bob soon, but more importantly, I hope he realizes how much I love and miss him.

To help make Thanksgiving more meaningful this year, my mother-in-law sent me an activity to do throughout November until Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving’s my favorite holiday because it’s the only day set aside each year to be grateful. I wish Thanksgiving wasn’t overshadowed by Christmas and I wish we had more than one day set aside to be grateful.

Anyway, the activity consists of putting 26 scrolls (or the number of days up to and including Thanksgiving if you want to do this another year) that have something to be thankful for written on them. The scrolls also have an activity for you to do that coincides with the thing written on them. For example, “I’m thankful for my hands! Do an art project.” (Because I don’t have a printer that’s working at the moment, I just wrote the items on some paper.)

When I looked at the activity, I thought it would be a lot of fun. To be honest, I almost decided not to do it because it felt like too much effort and work. Then, I realized that was the point so I created my thankful jar today, which also met the “do an art project” requirement.

My Thankful Jar

I’ve decided to put the jar by my bed, as long as my cat Dax doesn’t keep trying to eat the ribbon so I can pick a scroll each morning. During the month, I’ll post some of the things I do. I’m actually very excited to do something to show how grateful I am for all the blessings in my life.