When I host Thanksgiving, I make everyone hold hands before the meal and say what they are grateful for. The usual suspects always come up: family, friends, home, health, plenty of food. These are all wonderful things, but I suspect that if each of us had more time to talk, and was comfortable baring our souls, the things we give thanks for would be a lot more specific and personal.
This Thanksgiving, I'm comfortable baring my soul, and this blog gives me all the time in the world. Here are just a few of the things for which I am deeply thankful:
Little Miss's hair feels like silk. Her dimple melts my heart every single time I see it. She's learning more and more words each day, and I am fortunate to hear her say "I want Momma" on a regular basis. While she is mostly on the go, she still wants to be rocked and read to daily. I always hoped for a daughter that would be sassy and smart enough to conquer the world by the time she was 21...how fortunate am I that she is ready to do this at 21 months!
Little Guy's enthusiasm about Christmas is incredible and infectious. I am fortunate, and grateful, that he briefly mentions toys he wants and then moves on to something else. Right now he is much happier to be putting up decorations, and the only thing he begs for is to put up the Christmas village. The real blessing is that his attitude towards Christmas is really no different from his attitude about any other subject we come across: everything is amazing, everything is fun, and everything is worth exploring.
Big Guy is my other half and I give thanks for this every day. But he makes my life better in a thousand tiny ways, some of which I'm sure I don't even realize. Big Guy takes care of Barley if I am too tired to do it. He never complains about my hectic night schedule of teaching at Waubonsee or meetings for my day job. He is supportive of my biggest plans, whether that plan is to transform the backyard or transform my life. And if the plan isn't too crazy, he jumps right in to help.
I am extremely thankful for my Waubonsee students. My classes really took off this year, and each one was filled with fun people. It was a joy to spend time with them. Teaching at Waubonsee is less like a part-time job and more like a great opportunity to meet and talk with people in my community on a weekly basis. And the good folks who sign up for my classes are less like students, and a lot more like great people I am happy to hang out with once a week.
Finally, I am really thankful for all of my blog and facebook readers. This means you! Some of you I know, but many I do not. Thanks for coming here and reading about my bizarre attempts to turn myself into Martha Stewart. And thanks for not telling how crazy I am as I try to do this. I hope you are getting something (if only a chuckle or two!) from this blog as what you are giving me is far greater. Knowing that you all are out there reading encourages me to tackle new projects, try new recipes and learn new skills so that I can share those experiences with you. And in doing all that, I become more and more like the person I want to be.
No, not Martha Stewart. Okay, sort of like Martha Stewart.
The person I want to be, and the person I am becoming, is a better version of myself. The motivation to do this comes from all the reasons I've listed here.
And for that, I am extremely grateful. Thanks for being here. Happy Thanksgiving!
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