Gratitude in Hard Times: The Week I Found Two Rainbows

A commitment to show up and write my truth | Day 311 of 365

It’s Friday, friends.

On Monday, I didn't know how we would make it through this week in one piece. We did.

So here are the three things that got me through this week. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.

I know. That was four. It’s been that kind of week.

Welcomed Back Like Family

We had just come back from two and a half weeks away. Different cities and different beds, with a toddler who had opinions about every single one. By the end, I couldn’t remember which side of the bed the light switch was on, and I’d stopped trying.

Monday was our first day back at our chiropractor. I walked in tired and a little rumpled, and they greeted us like family, big smiles and our names called out like they’d missed saying them.

If you’ve been reading along, you know we’ve been in a temporary chapter for a while now. I’ve written about missing my old life and living out of a suitcase. When so much around you keeps changing, the places that stay the same start to mean something. A front desk where people know your name becomes a little piece of home, even if you’d never call it that out loud.

Most of us have a place like that. It might be the pharmacy where they ask about your mom, or the coffee shop that starts your order when you walk in. You don’t think much about it until you’ve been gone a while and someone says, “There you are.”

Then it kept happening. All week, our community showed up. Some people just helped, no questions asked, and never made a big deal of it. Some were total strangers doing random acts of kindness for a family they’d never met. They’ll probably never know what it meant to us, and that’s part of what makes it so beautiful.

The Money Miracle

Here’s the other thing about Monday. We had just spent a ton of money on something we did not see coming. (Isn’t that always how it goes?) It was the kind of expense that sits in your stomach for days, the kind you keep doing math about at night.

One of my teachers says the miracles are here, especially now. Look, and you’ll find them. I’ve heard her say it before, but this week I decided to take her at her word.

So I said it out loud: “We’re going to have a money miracle this week.”

Part of me felt a little silly saying it. Another part of me needed to say it anyway, and that’s the part I listened to.

Monday night, money came in from a place I never expected. I was floored. I was so happy.

Was it seven figures? Friends, I would have led with that. It came right when we needed it, and I’ll take it. Some miracles are big and loud. Most of the ones I’ve known show up right on time and don’t ask for applause.

Looking for Miracles: Gratitude in Hard Times

If you read Wednesday’s post, you know a little about that day already, and I’m not going to say more than I did then. Evil was very real that day. We were taken care of, and my heart is heavy for the families who weren’t as lucky.

I’ve lived long enough to know gratitude in hard times isn’t about pretending everything’s fine. Some of this week was not fine. Some of it I’m still sitting with. Gratitude didn’t erase any of that. It just kept turning my head toward what was still good, again and again, until I couldn’t miss it.

That’s what my teacher meant, I think. The miracles were here all week. I just had to keep looking.

Then came Thursday. If you read yesterday’s post, you know about the comfort food situation. (Fatburger. In the car. Second order of fries. I stand by it.) What I didn’t tell you is what happened on that drive.

Somewhere between the fries, I looked out the window and thought, I want a rainbow. So I looked for one.

I found two.

Two rainbows, friends, side by side over a car full of french fries and one very satisfied cookie thief. Naturally, I started looking for the pot of gold. Lucky Charms, right?

Still looking. I’ll keep you posted.

Giving Myself Some Credit

Thursday also gave me a little quiet: a few minutes in the car, and a little more while my toddler slept. (A sleeping toddler is also a miracle. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.) I needed that time to sit with everything and see it with fresh eyes.

Today, I let myself say what I really felt, without dressing it up. Then I decided what deserves my attention right now and what can wait until next week. A week like this shows you who shows up, and I know exactly where I want my energy to go.

I could hear myself starting in on all the things I should have done.

Nope.

I’ve done enough this week without shoulding all over myself. I got my family to Friday, and I’m giving myself some credit for that.

If your week was a hard one too, let this count: you made it to Friday. And if you need a sign that miracles are real and they’re for you, too, consider this your rainbow. Actually, take both. I found two.

Thank you, God, for every single one of them.

I’ll probably work this weekend, because I’m me. But it’s Friday, and I get another day to create this magical, magical life.

About the Author | Day 311 of 365

I’m a soul-led coach, entrepreneur, mother, and recovering perfectionist, currently navigating healing, uncertainty, temporary chapters, motherhood, work, big transitions, grief, nervous system healing, overstimulation, emotional growth, and the ongoing lesson that life works a whole lot better when we stop trying to carry everything alone. Today that lesson looked like letting our community carry us through a hard week, and finding two rainbows on the drive home.

Day 311 of 365. Still showing up. Still looking for the pot of gold. 🐧