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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2017 7 The Beauty of Gratitude The TV spouts it. The newspaper proclaims it. The grandkids' video games enhance it. The computer streams it. The radio announces it. Mayhem! Terror! Political unrest! Hurricanes! Tornadoes! Earthquakes! Fires! Species extinction! Pollution! Zombies! Tweets! Sometimes it's all too much. And we feel frazzled, anxious, fearful, angry, sad. But there's a solution: gratitude. Ask your physician, a mental health professional, a pastor, a researcher. In all of their fields they are learning that gratitude is the best healer of all. And the Breeze will do its part. On this page are our first notes of gratitude. Read them, then take a moment to pull up your own memory. Share it. How? You can send it to our publisher at fourseasonsnews@ yahoo.com. Or you can drop a note into the GRATITUDE BOX in the Lodge and we'll send it for you. Easy-peasy. You'll feel better and so will the people you share it with. Give it a try. We think you'll like it. I am so grateful for all the wonderful neighbors here in Four Seasons like the couple who recently spent a good portion of a gorgeous Saturday morning helping a widower recovering from a major surgery. These folks spent quite a long time tidying up this gentleman's front yard and making sure their neighbor could rest easy that his property was looking good, even though he was not able to personally care for it this year. ~ Martha B. I am extremely thankful for my kind and thoughtful neighbors. I recently had knee surgery and had difficulty getting around prior to and post surgery. My generous neighbors checked on me to see if I needed anything and made sure to bring my trash cans in. It is considerate neighbors that make Four Seasons a great place to live. ~ Irene W. I was about to go to bed. All of a sudden there was a shriek. I saw the cats dash off, ears flattened as they flew off to safety: into the closet, under the bed. And I raised my hands to my head, covering my ears the best I could. NUTS! It's late and the smoke detector is going off. Now what? My balance was ruined by a back surgery, so I don't climb ladders without another person around. I couldn't go all night with that horrible noise. Reluctantly I picked up the phone and called a friend. "Uh, could you, uh, I'm sorry to bother you at this hour but, uh, could you…" and she responded immediately. A few minutes later my friend, her husband, and a visiting daughter were getting ready to leave. All three of them had come down the street, replaced the batteries in all of my smoke detectors and my carbon dioxide detector, replaced the ladders, and hugged me good bye. I was grateful then and I am grateful now. Thank you, dear neighbors. You know who you are. ~ Laurie L.

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