Giving Thanks

It's been almost a month since I've posted here. Mostly because I've been really busy and not even posting to my main blog more than once a week. But there was also a lull in how thankful I felt about things. I wasn't depressed, so it wasn't that. I guess I felt as if it was a little contrived, all this "thanking". I guess I felt that way because I started not feeling grateful while I wrote my three thanks each day, and I didn't want to just post them without truly feeling the gratitude behind it. Then I just forgot to post entirely and so here I am, a month later, posting for the first time.

There are so many things I'm grateful for, truly grateful for, and sitting here alone on Thanksgiving - in the living room with my coffee before Hubby wakes up - is the best time for me to really reflect without distraction. So without further ado, here are my thanks...


I am thankful for my lax attitude towards my weight this past month - I haven't been this relaxed in forever.

I'm thankful that Hubby has finally understood what I've been trying to tell him for the past 5 years and that he's FINALLY found his "mojo".

I'm grateful that Hubby and I have finally combined finances and no longer have separate accounts.

I'm so grateful that my mom still looks like my momma since having her face lift. Pre-op and post-op, there is still nothing more beautiful and comforting than seeing your mothers face.

I'm thankful of who I've become, in spite of the circumstances I've been in throughout my life. I have fared very well, and I have been truly blessed.

I'm thankful for the incredible relationship I share with my step sister, whom I usually refer to as my sister. She is my rock in the turbulent river that is my father and her mother. I am so grateful that she and I are 110% on the same wavelength when it comes to them and we are able to support each other through whatever evil deed they dream up next.

I am grateful for deciding to let my fears be replaced with the excitement and joy of what is possible.

I am thankful that I've been able to color my own hair and not miss having all the highlights. I've been saving myself $200 every two months!

Even though my house is teeny tiny, I am soooo grateful for it!

I am grateful for the men and women who are overseas right now, representing our country. They are the reason you and I don't have to fight wars, and they do it in other countries so as to keep war from being fought on our soil. We all should give thanks to them daily for standing tall, and for fighting for the freedom we enjoy every day.

We have a new girl training to answer the phones at work. It is painfully apparent - based on her actions and also what she has told me thus far - that at 23 years old, she is in dire straits financially and has had a pretty rough life. I remember being exactly like her many years ago, and I am ever grateful to the Universe, God, whatever your word for it is, for watching over me though my times of complete destitution. To think there were times where I was only one night on a friends couch away from being homeless at one point in my early twenties, to being madly in love with my husband and owning a home - and adopting my baby girl Gracie now in my late thirties, is a miracle - a true miracle. I feel forever eternally blessed for that experience because it's what makes me so very sincerely grateful for so very much in my life today. I send prayers to this girl today and I wish for her to one day have the comfort I have right now.

I give thanks for the relationships I've formed with women on these blogs - I sincerely have never, ever met so many quality people in one forum in all my life. I sit here tearing up just thinking about it, and my gratitude for you all is deep and immeasurable.

For my daughter Grace, who, because she has yet to be conceived, currently exists only in the realm of the universe: I can feel you all the time, your spirit surrounds me in certain moments and I'm taken aback at how real you are in that moment to me. Although you have yet to be conceived, I know your soul is just waiting to be delivered to us, to show us how much more beautiful this world can be because you are in it. I am grateful to you for the moments you visit my heart because it's what keeps me going, keeps me trudging forward towards you. You have already enriched my life so very much that sometimes it's inconceivable that you're not actually here yet in physical form. This is how powerful you are, how full of love and light you are, and how much you are meant to be here. Never for a moment think you are not wanted, for you are wanted beyond measure. And even thought I can't yet hold you or see your sweet face, I am immeasurably grateful for the opportunity to be your mother. I cherish it, I cherish you, and I will always be forever grateful that you are my daughter. I love you endlessly...

I am always and forever thankful for my husband, one of the most morally and ethically upright people I've ever met. He is incapable of doing anything other than what is "the right thing", because nothing else ever crosses his mind. He is kind, considerate, thoughtful, caring, generous, helpful, funny to the point of making me cry with laughter, he's sexy, he's gorgeous, and he adores me regardless of what I look like at any given moment, and, regardless of the weight I've gained since marrying him...lol. I am truly blessed to have found such a man, one whom I no longer thought existed. Thank you John for loving me so well, and for choosing me to be your partner for life... You are an incredible husband, and you will be an even more incredible father... I awall you.

And just for you two here on this blog, Patricia and Janet: for you two I am so thankful, because you have always given me the steam to continue to think about what I am grateful for. I always look for your comments with your own thanks, and it truly boosts my gratitude to read what yours are. You also remind me of things to be grateful for that I may have missed, and that enriches my gratitude as well. Thank you for always following along with me, reminding me that I'm not crazy for posting my gratitude. I love you both, and I send up a prayer for you and your families today in thanks for being my sisters in gratitude :)

Now for anyone else who might be reading: Go and be thankful today, go and make a list of what you have in your life to be thankful for, and hang that list up in a place where you can always see it. Write until your hands hurt, and make your list as long as you can get it. This is a fabulous life and we are blessed beyond measure... the things to be grateful for are there, you just have to open your eyes, and take a moment to see them.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all....