Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude remains the sole expression of my writing at the start of every week, which for today is for meeting Pastor Troy Budreau of the Faith Baptist Church in Ray, Michigan, a man who was randomly assigned the seat next to me on a plane ride home recently, in a row I hadn’t originally intended to be in.

Just over a week ago now, I returned from a five-day visit to the Washington, DC region after catching up and connecting with some dear friends (Love you Peter, Sammy, Sterling, Lee, and Darrell!). I was flying Delta and had picked my seat months prior at the time the flight got booked. I usually choose the same seats whenever I fly, generally near back of the plane because I have the unfortunate tendency of always needing to go the restroom more than once during every flight. That being said, at the time of my check in, 24 hours before flight time, I noticed my seat had been changed from 18C, the one that I had booked, to 12C, which was the aisle seat of an emergency exit row. I was surprised because typically those aren’t assigned till the day of the flight and only by the gate agents. Nevertheless, shortly after boarding the plane on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, a sharply dressed gentleman in a full business suit pointed to the only seat next to me indicating that he would be sitting by the window. While I had planned to watch an episode of The Orville during my flight that I had downloaded prior to getting to the airport, for some reason I decided to ask this man what the occasion was for his fancy attire. That was ironic in itself because in recent years with all my chronic pain issues, I tend to tune out any passengers sitting next to me because quite often most conversations with random passengers are usually superficial in nature and feel awkward to me. I was pleasantly surprised though that what transpired for the rest of the flight after I asked that question was an amazing conversation with a humble man who was able to lift my spirits quite incredibly.

I believe everyone has a story that’s worth listening to and Pastor Troy Budreau definitely has one of those. While it’s not my intention to share any of that for the subject of this article in gratitude today, it is my intention to say that Troy is a very kind soul, who I honestly believe was meant to sit next to me. I don’t think there are any accidents because not once during the flight did I want our conversation to end. I felt God was very present in our entire conversation, as Troy talked about the pain of his journey and the many learning lessons he’s had along the way, even sharing with me a story or two about the ups and downs of being a pastor. In turn, he intently listened to much of the pain of my own journey in life, never once judging me for any of it, never once bringing any admonishment upon me whatsoever, something that so many religious people often do to me whenever I converse with them. What Troy did instead was hold space, as I did for him, where two souls were able to embrace with Light for the approximate hour and a half flight.

As I’ve spoken about so many times before, the common response when an individual shares about the pain being endured in their life is usually to be offered some piece of advice, something I loathe and detest more than anything now. When it comes to many Christians I’ve come across and shared some of my painful journey with, that is frequently what I’m given, the result of which is me feeling more down than up. I am thankful that Troy didn’t do this at all. Troy instead carried the love of Christ in a way I haven’t experienced through much of my life, especially as of late. For those brief moments our paths crossed randomly above 10,000 feet, I truly felt as if Christ himself was embracing me gently through Troy’s kind and loving words.

So, on this Grateful Heart Monday, I dedicate my sole piece of gratitude to you Pastor Troy Budreau, for carrying the love of Christ in a way that left me feeling uplifted and renewed. I hope our paths may cross again one day, but until then, may God bless you, my friend.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Oh, and P.S. – Just before I left the plane, I learned Troy too had been placed in the seat next to me at the last minute, when he got to the gate! Now if that’s not God working, then I don’t know what is!

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where the focus is always on a piece of gratitude from my life, which for today is for a show I wrote about on my Facebook timeline a few times lately that has been really helping me to laugh lately…and A LOT at that…something I’ve needed badly in my life for some time. What’s the show? The Orville, starring Seth MacFarland, on Hulu streaming. A show I initially didn’t give a chance, but one I finally did, am so very grateful I did.

I was never really a Seth MacFarland fan given his type of sarcastic humor in the Family Guy show that he created, which is why when I saw his new Star Trek-type show coming out in 2017 titled The Orville, I was uninterested in watching it, even though I’m a fan of most Star Trek type shows and movies. But after one of my fraternity brothers (thank you Matt Christiansen) recently asked me to give it a whirl for at least a few episodes, I decided I would, mostly because Matt’s a great guy who has a type of humor that totally makes me laugh. I assumed that if Matt’s humor was anything like what The Orville’s humor was like, then maybe I would like it. And I totally have!

Once I passed the second episode of the first season, I never turned back and have been regularly binge-watching this series. The belly laughs I’ve had thus far while watching it, along with its numerous positive messages, have left me constantly feeling uplifted every time I’ve sat down to catch a new episode. If you’ve ever seen the movie, Galaxy Quest, starring Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, which is essentially a Star Trek spoof of a film, and one of my favorite comedies of all time, then you most likely would like this show as much as I have.

Laughing is hard for me. Living in chronic pain on most days honestly makes it hard to laugh, let alone even smile. But there hasn’t been a single episode yet of The Orville where I haven’t laughed incredibly hard or felt better by the end of it. I have to give it to Seth MacFarland for creating something that I feel is dramatically different than Family Guy, which essentially to me has always been a type of potty humor that doesn’t interest me.

Currently, I’m in the midst of Season 3 and can’t wait to see where the direction of this show continues to head. I’ve come to learn this show has a huge fan base and every time I bring it up with friends, I find so many others who seem to like it just as much as I do. I truly am hoping that this show gets renewed for a 4^th Season, but at least for now, I found an outlet that definitely induces laughter in me, something I desperately need as it’s a great pain releaser.

If you haven’t watched this show, I encourage you to give it a whirl yourself, as I highly recommend it and dedicate today’s Grateful Heart Monday to Seth MacFarland’s, The Orville.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to this week’s Grateful Heart Monday entry, which for today is for Katelyn Smith, who is the District Manager of Starbucks in my region and someone who went above and beyond to help me with a growing issue I’ve been having with my usual coffee order at a number of her stores.

It’s no secret that I’m addicted to Starbucks coffee. If you ever want to find me on any given afternoon, there’s a good chance I’m consuming a coffee during that time at one of the Starbucks locations in my region. Over the last few years, I have grown to love one single drink more than any other, and on most days many baristas know me well enough that they are already placing my order as soon as I walk up to the register. My drink is a Venti (large) Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew, sub out the vanilla syrup for 5 pumps of mocha, no ice, vanilla sweet cream on the side, and two Trenta (extra-large) cups of ice on the side.

For many, me included, Starbucks coffee is too strong on its own, so I always dilute my large beverage into two extra-large cups of ice, adding my vanilla sweet cream to both. I generally consume one in the afternoon, and one later at night, as I do try to limit my caffeine intake. In recent months though, I began facing an issue with this drink where employees were trying to charge me for the amount of vanilla sweet cream I use. I tend to like my coffee more sweet than bitter and use the additional vanilla sweet cream in each of those extra-large cups of ice. For the longest time, none of the baristas anywhere had an issue with this. In recent months though, that changed. Some employees, including even a manager, began telling me that I need to start paying $1.25 for the extra vanilla sweet cream. One employee recently even went so far as to tell me I needed to pay $4 for the extra vanilla sweet cream because it constituted an entirely new beverage. I began to feel shamed by employees over this issue, and as it continued to happen, I became embarrassed just to order my drink, which is why I opted one day to contact Corporate Starbucks to see what they had to say.

I spoke with a senior supervisor there who told me that because my vanilla sweet cream was already part of the cost of the beverage I order, that having the additional amount wasn’t a problem and I should never be charged anything extra for it. They then contacted my local District Manager, Katelyn Smith, to follow up with me on the issue, who in turn reached out and set up an in-person meeting with me. I was nervous about this meeting, as I had been given so much flack lately about this silly issue. What I received though from her was a very warm welcome, a sincere understanding, and an immense amount of gratitude for just bringing the issue to her attention in the first place, something she said most normally don’t and she wished they would. She assured me she would correct the problem by talking to all her store managers and even told me to reach out to her if I encountered the problem again, as she would immediately address it. We actually spent an hour together discussing this and many other things about Starbucks in general, which I must say, Katelyn is a really great listener who has a huge amount of empathy. I could see why she is a District Manager, because of how much she made sure to address all my concerns with the level of compassion she had. At the end of our meeting before she had to leave, she even bought me my usual beverage, an action that simply blew me away.

I honestly wish all managers and supervisors in this world were like Katelyn Smith. Talking to her felt very down-to-earth and was truly a sincere pleasure. Because of it, I’ve dedicated today’s Grateful Heart Monday to her, not just because she addressed my Starbucks issue with grace, but also for reminding me why Starbucks is a company that always does go above and beyond to retain their customers, which is why I keep going back daily for my coffee. Thank you, Katelyn, for being an amazing District Manager and for helping me! I’m very grateful.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson