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    What Matters....Gratitude
    What Matters....Gratitude
    What Matters....Gratitude
    Ebook80 pages56 minutes

    What Matters....Gratitude

    By Missy Durant

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    "Structure's important in times of change." Wisdom from a barista served up with a last cup of coffee before Missy Durant walked out the door of her corporate life. No one could have predicted that a commitment to structure in a time of change would lead her to write letters to everyone she could think of who impacted her life and help shape who she is today. Those letters changed her life, changed her perspective on life, ignited a zeal for the things that matter most in life and began a revolution of gratitude.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMissy Durant
    Release dateNov 14, 2011
    ISBN9781466046856
    What Matters....Gratitude
    Author

    Missy Durant

    Missy believes in people. And she's happily committed her entire life to that cause. For more than 15 years, Missy got paid to believe in people as a successful human resources professional for very large U.S. businesses. Then she threw her life into a tailspin, on purpose, as she left her job and began a search for something deeper. Today, one of the things that matters most to her is inspiring others to let gratitude for the things that matter most – people – set the course for their lives. Active in the community, Missy has served several non-profit organizations, Project Success (a non-profit serving Minneapolis and St. Paul youth), the Human Rights Campaign (America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality) and People with AIDS Coalition Jacksonville (PWACJ) board of directors. Missy earned her master's in organizational management from the University of Phoenix and bachelor's of science from the University of Northern Florida. Missy, her partner Sam, and their two endearing children – Thing 1 and Thing Thing 1 – call Minneapolis their home.

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    • 3/5
      Yes, gratitude remains relevant; so does loving kindness, peace, and empathy. Did you seek to house these in the framework of 'gratitude'? Feeling your dialogue provided a litany of precious memories deeply treasured. For that, I am grateful. Three stars represents what you left out, whether intentional or otherwise.

    Book preview

    What Matters....Gratitude - Missy Durant

    What Matters

    Missy Durant

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright 2011 Missy Durant

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    For Sam and our children, Thing 1 and Thing, Thing 1

    Dedication

    This is my story: a lifetime of moments, a pile of letters, and an unwavering gratitude for life, itself. I tell you this story to honor all the people in my life who have either told me a story or been a part of my story. Those who shared their stories with me, created a place for me to live—a place to dream and fail and learn. I tell you this story with the hope that it will inspire you to listen, to own your story, to honor the people in your own life, and that it will give you a chance to answer this question:

    What Matters?

    Chapter 1: Grab Your Life

    Never waste a good crisis.

    The last five words mentioned in passing from a colleague when I stepped out of the corporate world in 2009.

    I am toe to toe with mid-life and I have a choice. I can have an affair, or buy a fast red car. But those last five words continue to govern my thoughts.

    Never waste a good crisis.

    Instead, I’ll start searching the cobwebbed memories of my past for the answer. An answer to a question I am embarrassed to say I’ve lost.

    What matters?

    Part of my answer is in the black, tattered roller bag I’ve been dragging around for years. It is filled with good intent. The weight of this bag has been bearable…until now.

    Now, I am standing at an intersection in life, when looking forward and back have meaning. I need to unpack and sort through my messy life for an answer. Maybe an answer will unfold if I stop and remember the people and moments in my life that made a difference. Maybe all I need to do is stop and listen.

    Never waste a good crisis.

    This is an invitation to dive into your own moments and swim in gratitude.

    Grab your life and come with me.

    Chapter 2: The Yellow Room

    February 8, 2009, was a Sunday. It was a Sunday like any other. Sitting on the sofa, mindlessly scanning Facebook, I noticed a post from an old classmate. Our high school American Literature teacher, Ms. Miller, had passed away. Memories flooded my mind.

    ****

    I’m sixteen and in love, and I share the moment of my first kiss with no one. Summer love. Falling in love for the first time is magical. Every cell in my teenage body is alive. Love beams from my body, and the topic of my new love oozes into every conversation I have with my friends. It all feels like a fairytale to me. But the fairytale ending was not meant to be.

    My love is a secret. Because everyone—everyone I know—says it is bad. It is wrong and not something I can talk about. It scares me sometimes to think about it. I will go to hell for sure if—no, when—they find out. And they will find out, I know.

    I share the moment of my first kiss with no one. I hold this moment as tight as I can, replaying it over and over in my mind. I tell myself that sharing the story of my kiss would be a fatal error, reputation suicide, and just plain stupid for a teenager in a small town in the South. My parents will be ridiculed.

    I kissed a girl. I fell in love with a girl. And a girl broke my heart.

    It will be the best thing for you, she said. The words echoed, getting louder and louder. Her parents are Southern Baptist—the kind that save the lost. I know this because they saved me at thirteen, even though I wasn’t lost. Now there is a sinner in the family and she must be saved.

    No, no. It will be fine, she says. My heart begins to feel the pain of love being ripped away for the first time.

    But, I love you, I plead.

    She shakes her head. It is over.

    ****

    A week passes. A girl broke my heart

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