adjective
a: marked by kindness and courtesy, as in a gracious host. b: marked by tact and delicacy. c: characterized by charm, good taste, generosity of spirit, and the tasteful leisure of wealth and good breeding, as in gracious living.
How many gracious people do you know?
Better yet...are you a gracious person?
Loretta and I talked about this quality called being gracious. It is a quality of human nature that not everyone possesses. It could be considered a principle or a value as well. Something to be placed along side words like integrity, ethics, dedication, honesty when one is describing one's self. Or when one is evaluating how one lives his or her life.
Loretta celebrated her 60th trip around the sun yesterday. In advance, she conveyed to me that she didn't want anything special nor did she want to do anything special for her birthday. But, I know that wasn't entirely truthful. I know what she wanted. She only wanted some recognition from certain people in her life. And she got that...to a certain extent.
She received recognition for her birthday from the people she sees most often...her friends and co-workers. Not so much from family folks she rarely sees. The cards, the little gifts, and the cake she got really made her day. But she couldn't help but feel a bit sad that she didn't hear at all from one of her children or her sisters and brothers, save for one...Marie.
She even got calls from old friends far away, but not from her son.
I told Loretta that she needs to continue to be gracious, and keep sending those birthday cards to sisters and children and other relatives. That is what being gracious is all about...doing those things and not expecting anything in return. And she is that kind of person.
So...Happy Birthday (again) Loretta. Be thankful that you have friends who care enough about you to not forget the important, little things in life. I'm thankful I have you...something I hope you never tire of hearing from me. Be thankful that on your 60th birthday, you still look like you are in your 40's. Of course, you know that...because everyone told you (again) yesterday!
