Giving Thanks

Terri (link below in people I stalk section) has a day where she lists some things for which she is thankful. I love that idea. Really, when I concentrate on all the things that aren't going right (and I tend to do this A LOT) it's hard to see all the things that I have and how great my life is going. I figure Sunday would be a good day. I usually get reflective, if we had a particularly good sermon at church (which would not have been today since I dozed off a couple times). It's the end of the week so nice to reflect on what just happened and to get into a good mood for what's about to happen. So here it goes...

I am thankful for my friends. The ones I've been meeting online and the ones in my neighborhood and life. The friend I've had since JR. High, who is okay if I don't email daily and I'm okay if she doesn't either. I know if I needed something, she would be fine if I called her any day or night. I would do the same. The friend I've had since college, who was in my wedding, who lives across town and I meet every so often for coffee and we talk and talk and get things off our chests and can be completely ourselves with out the fear of being judged or disliked. My friends in the neighborhood who look after my children, who have coffee with me and we chat and, yeah, gossip and with whom I celebrate birthdays, receive and give casseroles when there's a crisis. These women are a blessing. Then there are those of you out there whose writing makes me cry and laugh and wish I really knew some of you in real life.

I am thankful for my husband. We've been together since we were 16. He has stayed with me even when he didn't want to at times. He has stayed when I didn't want him to stay. Right now he's painting a constellation chart on my son's ceiling because I wanted to do something special, beyond just a nice paint job. This is nothing he would have done on his own, it's not something the kids would have asked for, it's purely to make me happy. He'd rather be playing Guitar Hero. But he loves me. I love him.

I am thankful for my home. This one is hard to be thankful for...it's in such a state of disrepair. We've been working on it for four years. But I am thankful that it's now painted, re-roofed, has new windows and gutters, that the upstairs is almost, two months from, painfully close to being --completed. In the meantime, the payment is low and we are kept cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

I am thankful to be in school. I love learning new things. I love that I'm going into a noble profession where I can help people. I am thankful I will be using intelligence, kindness, willingness and hopefulness, all of which are my favorite positive qualities about myself to help those in need. I am okay that I will not always be treated with respect, or kindness or thankfulness, it's not why I'm going into the profession, I'll know in my heart that I helped someone. That's going to feel great!

So these are some pretty general things...but it's my first post on being thankful...I'll need a little practice...although I am thankful for the opportunity to give thanks....

What, in your life, makes you thankful?