August 2026 Gratitude

August month always comes with a lot of positive energy and excitement as it’s a month dedicated to Friends – so many of them in my life who had come at different time and phases, they have been  a blessing, an extended family,  a variety of them who have empowered me and lead me to my destiny. I am grateful for all of them who have supported me, provided me lessons to learn and still some who have made my life meaningful.

I am grateful for:

My friend Aparna celebrated her 50^th birthday- 50 years is quite a long journey in life and its a milestone a person reaches, there is so much to be grateful for. As we are friends for the last 23 years, working together in the NGO sector addressing various issues, implementing projects and learning together. I felt grateful for all the learning with her, for all the travel experiences of my life. She is that one friend whom I can call any time in 24 hours without checking her availability and she always responds and has been very helpful. So together with other friends we celebrated her, affirmed and appreciated her and shared all our experiences that made us laugh, cry, joke about the past and thank her for being a great friend.

I am grateful for the opportunity I took to take weekend break at Bapatla & Chirala - this was a good break as I love the beaches. This place was the nearest from Hyderabad, and it was a road trip with 8 of us in the tempo traveler taking the highway road, we had a south Indian breakfast at Organic farm kitchen, run by an NRI – the service was good, enjoyed my dosa and wada, also picked up millet cakes, millet biscuits, banana chips and some chocolates for the journey. We had the music system in the bus, and listening to our favorite songs, singing along we did not know how far we travelled, we stopped by for lunch and tea and then reached the resort. This was a small resort; we left our bags and went straight to the beach and walked around for a couple of hours, and the waters were very clean and salty.

I spent quite a lot of time in the beach with friends, we sat down in the water, allowing the waves to hit us, sang songs sitting on the sand. We also took some rides on the shores and it was fun to drive on the beach. This was a good break for me as I have been busy with regular work as well as a new project that we are implementing, which is taking a lot of time. I did miss my daughter Dorothy who was out for a course in Vellore. But with friends around I was  happy and grateful created  memories of a life time.

I am blessed and feel grateful for the work I do as it brings me a lot of meaning and satisfaction. At my work place we are expanding both physically as well as team wise, am glad we have few more persons joining for this project for implementing all the capacity building programmes, training of trainers, and getting small repairs done to ensure that our centre has no infra structure issues.  Since this the government set up everything takes time, and we need to constantly keep following up even for one small letter to move from one place to another. But that’s part of the process when we implement a government project.

This month there were also two deaths in the same family; one of my friends cousin lost her 18 year old son in an accident in the early hours, while he was going to college with his friend on a bike. He fell off the bike and had head injury and died on the spot. Hearing the death of the son, his father was shocked and within 3 days got a paralytic attack. The family was suffering for the wife was trying to deal with the son’s death, grieving for the son and now handling her husband was sad and within days the husband dies. Two deaths in a span of 15 days can be terrible and I felt very sad, as my friend kept me updated regularly, and wanted to meet me as she was finding difficult to handle, for she was helping her cousin, who needed help. I spent some time listening to her as she was emotionally disturbed and grief is not easy to deal with. I am grateful for the trust she placed in me and could vent out. I validated her feelings and everything she was going through as she was attached to her cousin. Death is always a reminder for us that we are not permanent residents here on earth, and its so important to keep this thought in mind and live our lives to the fullest.

I am grateful for all the mornings I have got up from my bed, for the heart that was beating throughout not just the night, but for so many years of my life; for sleep that keeps me rested, and motivation to show up to work every day, for the divine protection I experience 24 by 7 not just throughout the month but year after year and for many more countless blessings I am filled with awe and wonder for being alive.

I am grateful to God that Maria Dorothy had completed the Post Graduate Certificate Course in Psychological Counseling Skills (Residential) at Dr B J Prashantham Institute for Counseling Psychology, Vellore with practical work at Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. This month I traveled to bring Dorothy back home – and stayed up for a couple of days in Vellore for going around this place, rested well, shopped a little for Dorothy as she had friends, went out with them and came back with gratitude on the last day of this month. I am grateful that while I was away David managed everything at home, ensured that house is clean, minor repairs were done and when we reached home there was food cooked and ready on the table for us.

I am grateful for the journey and am happy to travel alone, friend who came to bid goodbye to me at the railway station, and another person who got in at tirupathi, a co passenger, was visiting golden temple at Vellore, got into a conversation and told me that he had gone to the temple to do voluntary work, a retired bank employee helping the temple trust with accounts and audit. I was impressed by his generosity as he has traveled all the way from Aurangabad only to volunteer.

He spoke about his family and how he looked after his mother till the end while none of his siblings had time to give as they were all busy with their own lives. It was a meaningful conversation and I am surprised that I never asked his name J neither did he asked me any information about my personal life. He was kind to help me with my luggage as I got down and also put me in a cab.

I felt happy that God places the right people at the right time and a complete stranger reaching out to me, was truly a Divine intervention. As he left immediately in another direction to reach his own destination.

I came back home with gratitude in my heart for everything the Lord has done – and for all the people I met, for my journey was a comfortable and safe. I am ready to welcome the new month with a heart full of thankfulness, with hope and trust that everything is working for its highest good in our lives. 

Thank you for reading my post; I hope you had a great month.

May you be happy and blessed!