This is my end of the year ‘Card of Thanks’ column

by Denise Dykstra

The End of the Year It’s here, the last week of 2021.  

I am a sucker for “Best Of” lists and end of the year rememberings.  

When it came time to write this column, I felt stuck.  How do you end the year with the written word?  What words sum up and encompass this year of 2021?

There were so many ways this could go, but I decided to center on just one thought….

Thankfulness.

Thank you, David T. Young, for reading a blog post on a badly designed blog and looking past all the grammar issues to ask me to write for you.  You assured me it would be great “work therapy,” and you were very correct.  Thank you for taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity.  

Thank you to the readers who have checked in on this column every week.  Some of you I know well, some of you I may never meet, but somehow I feel like we have all become friends over these written words these past few months.  That you have taken the time to share your day with me by reading these words means more than I could tell you. 

Thank you to my cheer team.  Maybe we should all get matching sweatshirts or something!

Thank you to those friends who read my articles and correct them (they need ever so many more commas every single time), or give me advice, or just straight up cheer for me like I am a shining star.  I don’t know how to thank you, but calling you my Cheer Team just came to me, and I think it is the best name for us.  I love how you do not know each other and somehow we are all together cheering for “Everyday Joys.” 

Sometimes these columns have been written with the words just flowing from my fingers.  Sometimes they have been written with my hovering hands over the keyboard, willing them to think of some words to type because my brain just could not any more.  All of these columns have come from my heart and I have felt honored to share them with you.  

Thank you for being on this journey to find joy in the everyday.  Thank you for reading about my “Everyday Joys” and sharing your joys with me as well.  

As we all head into 2022 together, I hope you continue this Joy Journey with me.
What is something you have been thankful for this past year?  Perhaps it was an unplanned surprise like this column was to me, or perhaps it was something you have worked hard for over a long period of time and this is the year you saw it come to fruition (Such as Phyllis McCrossin, another of the authors here on Townbroadcast, publishing a book… Congrats!).

Or maybe, just maybe, you found that watching the birds out your window brought you happiness and you can’t wait to share that story.  Whatever it is, share what you have been thankful for this past year.  I can’t wait to celebrate with you!