They say it's the small things in life that make it worth living.
My life was hard, cruel, and violent and to be honest there was nothing small to be grateful for except for a moment not being hurt.
If you are not safe at home, with your parents, in your bed, at school, or outside on the streets there isn't much 'great' to focus on, all you do is try to survive.
I lived a life without friends, family, or people I could trust, I rarely slept a night without being disturbed. Could be it was a different time when I grew up, a different culture, different rules, blah, blah, blah... To me, these are all excuses. Excuses I started telling myself too just to hang in and to be able to continue with life, keeping up appearances. If there's nothing to be grateful for you start making up things no matter how pathetic it sounds to others.
Unexpectedly I survived, escaped and I can't say it was thanks to the help of others. Might be they felt ashamed but their shame didn't help me any further.
The one who kept me alive was my eldest.
It was a way to get freedom, the freedom I never had.
No matter how ill I was I crawled out of bed to take care of this baby. I could have done better, way better, but it was not in it (I can make all kinds of excuses but I don't see any point in that). My eldest, just like my other children kept me alert, fighting, acting, living, striving for the best possible and even enjoying though it was hard and stress was not unfamiliar to us.
Life was and still is quite a challenge but I am grateful for my special children, to be their mom, for the fact they trust me, share (their feelings) with me and still ask for a hug now and then. They never feel ashamed of me and neither do I.
A parent couldn't wish for better children than mine. I am super proud of each one of them. They are great in their own unique and creative way and we do not focus on small things only because if you do, you never reach the sky.
I needed time to think about who I am most grateful to on this platform.
Is it one person only or a community? Since all those I (once knew) and were close with I met before Hive existed I have to go back to that time.
It was 
The past years I haven't been so active. Once in a while, I read, upvoted, and commented. Most people I knew were too busy or left for different reasons like 
Once in a while I still check on some writers I know like 
I mainly read, upvote and comment on the #pic1000 entries. They are always good for hours of quality reading time. I find it hard to believe all those great writers remain unnoticed. They deserve better, way better. I still hope that will happen and each one of them will be rewarded for their creativity. I can't mention each one of them here but to me, they are all #1.
In here (see photo above) you find the object that makes me, I should say our, life so much easier. To some, it might be not the first thing that pops up in their mind and to be honest it wasn't mine either.
At this very moment I am most happy with the faucet I was finally able to buy for the kitchen.
With this faucet we have water and it is a big help. No longer walking up and down with buckets and basins. It saves me time and it's great to be able to wash my hands without touching the faucet too much plus this one can be used above both sinks but like said it's not the object that makes my life easier.
A faucet is useless if there's no water and the only way to get that out of the well and inside the house is by using a hydrophore (water pump).
This is not my first hydrophore the former ones had different issues from drowning to being frozen and exploding. It's not easy to install without leaking and most likely that yellow barrel is not under enough pressure but we have water.
The water is not filtered but for the biggest part of the year good enough to cook, shower, clean with, for showering and yes we drink it as well.
If the water starts to smell we go back to our old routine which is travelling to the nearest drinking water tap to fill our water bags or buy water.
Since we do not have any health issues I do not see any reason avoiding using it. I do have a water filter can so water can be filtered but if it's boiled I think it's fine enough. Besides being expensive, I noticed the water filters (meant to fight the high levels of lime, bacteria, iron, dirt and other pollution) are no longer as good as the original ones which are no longer available.
The object that definitely makes my life easier is the hydrophore!
As you can see we try to keep it safe. This one is placed higher and we try to prevent it from getting frozen. I hope it will get us through the winter again. Nothing is so stressful as being out of the water and not being able to buy a new hydrophore.
A lot of snow is needed to fill a bucket of water.
To not be completely out of water I always keep the water cans filled (for the dogs), I have a rainwater barrel and there are a few plastic bottles to save the day. If I know there will be a power blackout again I fill pots, pans, kettles, and a few buckets so we have at least enough to drink, cook and wash our hands.
All photos are taken by me.
The Grateful Contest
19-1-2024 is hosted by 
