I may be crude and occasionally offensive in my posts, but that’s to be funny and that’s who I am.  I find that I do things for people that I actually get made fun of.  Someone calls me in the middle of the night and needs me, I will be there.  If I have $10 to my name there’s  a good chance I’ll spend it on a friend.

Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t feel the gratitude from the work I put into people.  I don’t do these things for gratitude but a sincere “Thank you” or just some show of appreciation makes a difference to me.

Before this week, I had only felt pure gratitude two different times.  The first was when I was in high school.  As I have mentioned before, I’ve been a writer since the age of 14 and one day, I was at a boyfriends house and saw a mommy mouse had been killed by the dog but a newborn had survived.

I took this baby in and I fed it with an eye dropper, looked up how a mother would bathe and make it go potty and the proper temperature the mouse needed to survive.

I blame myself for what happened.  I accidentally grabbed the wrong formula and the mouse died.  I grieved for this mouse for months and actually still do years later.

Because of my writing, a reader who was a fan of mine saw the story and felt my pain.  He knew the high school I went to, since I’m not shy about anything and he found me one day with a gift.  The gift was a brown box that slid in to reveal a tiny gold mouse.  That box, with the mouse inside sits in my car to this day.

The second time I felt gratitude shown to me was when I was on a cruise and because I had a little too much fun, I went wandering around looking for something to help cure my aching head.

Seeing a man at an information booth, I rushed over and asked where I could get something to help me out. He pointed me in the direction of a Cold Stone Creamery, now famous nationwide, but unfamiliar to me back then.

I walked into that store and asked the employee what would cure my aching head in this heat and she pointed to a smoothie.

I bought and drank that smoothie and I swear, it changed my life.  Oh.  I’m running to Cold Stone this afternoon after telling this now.  Thanks a lot.  They’re expensive.

What happened after I left  is something I will never forget.

I simply wanted to thank him so I returned to the stand and he asked if I had a problem finding it and if I needed better directions and I said no, I was simply grateful for his help and wanted to thank him.

This man was shocked.  At the time, I didn’t understand how he felt because I was in my early twenties with no responsibilities, but now that I’m in my thirties and find that I often help where I may be taken advantage of, I understood the surprise he felt when a stranger came up to thank him for something as simple as giving directions to get a smoothie.

Since I’m a talker, I decided to hang around for a minute and ask him the standard “Where are you from”, “Why are you here”, “what are your plans” questions and since I was walking around an unfamiliar place all alone (not uncommon for me, I travel often), I asked where I should go.

I walked away to check out his suggestions, and he called my name and asked me to return to his booth.  Curious, I walked back and found a shell necklace in his hands.  It was a simple necklace, made from tiny shells from the shore of the island and on a plastic wire, but when he reached out and handed it to me, it became the most beautiful necklace in the world.

“Why?”, I asked him.  I didn’t understand why I stranger I spent a half an hour with (okay, maybe an hour.  I talk) would give me a necklace.  This man told me that he made this necklace on his own and had a few he’d sell from time to time but not once in the fourteen years he’s been in that booth has a person not only returned to thank him, but stayed long enough to get to know him.  He told me it was because I am a nice person.  I can’t tell you how good that felt to hear.

That necklace is also in my car, wound along the emergency break and all who get in my car know that it is not to be touched, because it’s mine and I was appreciated and it’s fragile after all these years. I drive my car daily when I’m not traveling and there isn’t a time I get in it that I don’t think of those two gifts given to me.   They remind me that even though others may take me for granted, there are the occasional few who show their gratitude.

Recently, I was contacted by a company named  Waves Of Gratitude.  Plenty of people are familiar with the hardships I’ve been going through and Waves Of Gratitude wanted to show me their support by offering me a product to review.

Before I tell you what they’ve done for me, I just want to fill you in on what the company is about.  I know this may be a longer review, but it’s clearly one I hold close to my heart.

At www.wavesofgratitude.com you will find Inspired Jewelry and Inspired Apparel created by two women who built their company on the strong belief that everyone should have the opportunity to “wear” symbols of gratitude that have style and meaning.

Solid sterling silver bracelets, necklaces and signature tops were designed to elicit themes that emerge from a life lived well and grounded in a foundation of gratitude – including Hope, Legacy, Inspiration, Awakening, Health, Accomplishment, Strength, Family and more! Buy online at www.wavesofgratitude.com .

Waves of Gratitude is a company with a strong commitment to giving back. Founders Cheryl Nordyke and Kim Wierman are donating $3 from every large Branches of Hope necklace purchase to The Get In Touch Foundation and $3 to The New England Walkers for Knockers to raise awareness and find a cure for breast cancer. With coupon code INTOUCH you save 15% off your next large Branches of Hope necklace purchase at http://bit.ly/ckCDeZ.

Gratitude is the coolest thing we could think of, so we added style to express ours. We hope you enjoy browsing our collection of the Inspired Jewelry and Apparel designed to help people remember the importance of expressing gratitude.

I have an operation coming up this March.  It’s a big deal to me and I’m telling people about the fact that it’s happening but not about what it’s for.  I’m having a hard time with it and it might be the only thing I’ll ever keep from my readers, but I’m sure I’ll eventually say something, because I can’t keep my mouth shut about anything.

I need something to lean on.  I just had a hysterectomy and then went through pneumonia and a blood transfusion.  Throw all of that together with my bipolar disorder that caused me to whine daily and I was just WEAK with exhaustion.

I still work, I still write, because it’s one of the great loves of my life but the email I got from the people at Waves Of Gratitude couldn’t have come at a better time.  It came the day my operation was scheduled.

I was sent a “Branches of Hope” necklace, inspired by the strength and magnificence of the Cyprus tree.  The beautiful and stylish Branches of Hope pendant design by Jessica Fields inspires people to remember the importance of expressing gratitude, which I’ve been talking a lot about lately.

I put that necklace on the day it arrived and haven’t taken it off.  I hold it when I’m upset or feel unappreciated and it reminds me that even though not everyone expresses gratitude for the things I may do, I need to remember the little things the ones who love me do that I truly do appreciate.

There are  hundreds of you who have reached out to support me during the past eight months.  Your Tweets, Facebook comments, emails, gifts and comments left on my blogs have shown me that you think about me and care for me and I feel such love and gratitude towards all of you, especially since I haven’t been as active as I’d like to be with commenting and Tweeting, this necklace inspires me to remind myself that I need to show my gratitude to all of you before I should expect gratitude from those I help.

So thank you.  I thank all of you.  I know I have before and I know I will again but this has truly inspired me to do it once again.