Random Helping #154: Chapter 24
She stared at the blinking cursor on the blank word processor. She was about to begin her work when her phone buzzed.
She swiped her index finger across the matte-covered screen on her phone and grinned when she saw the influx of birthday messages from her friends. She felt happy. Happy that they remembered her birthday without the aid of Facebook notification. She felt special. The messages she received managed to distract her from her increasing workload and she was grateful for it.
She leaned back in her office swivel chair as she scrolled through the messages on her phone. After responding to all of them, she hooked her phone to the charger and continued to stare at the blinking cursor.
She began to ponder. 24 years. 24 chapters have passed. There were plenty of things to ponder about. There were plenty of things for her to be grateful about. Her lips curled into a secretive smile as she reminisced some of the significant moments that took place in all her 24 years of living.
That time when she spent her recess time all by herself when she was 12 because she was friendless. That time when she first started to pick up her reading hobby. That time when she placed third for a spelling bee contest. That time when she decided that English was her strength and that she was going to polish it as much as she could. That time when she decided to take up English for her college major. That time when she successfully graduated with a first-class honours degree 4 years after she made her decision. That time when she first applied for the training programme with a renowned translation company. That time when her training was about to end and she was practically at her breaking point; thinking that she had no chance of staying at the place and would need to start all over again at a new company. That time when it was made known that she was successfully shortlisted as one of the candidates to be taken in as permanent staff. That time when she first began her job as an executive at the same company she did her training at; doing the job she dreamt of doing when she was still in college.
Plenty of things and events had taken place throughout her 24th chapter; some good ones, some bad ones. But mostly? They were positive ones. She couldn't have survived every one of them if she didn't have faith in God, nor without supportive people around her. She pondered further and began to realise how blessed she had been all this while.
She leaned in towards her monitor and began tapping rapidly on her keyboard. Instead of doing the task she was given, she typed "24 Things I'm Grateful About This Year" into the word processor.
She paused as she tried to organise her jumbled thoughts into a proper structure before she pen them down. She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply, before she tapped furiously on her keyboard.
"1. The fact that I have people in my life who still remember my birthday even without the help of Facebook notification and how these same people have never failed to wish me every single year."
She paused and pursed her lips. Not a very strong point to begin with but she thought she'd write it down anyway. At least there was something for her to start with.
She then continued to list down the things she was grateful for, with her lips slowly curling into a smile as she typed swiftly, hoping that nobody would catch what she was typing.
She was on a roll.