Thankful

I am gripe and I may groan about the little things, but in the end, I have so much to be thankful for. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget to look at the big picture and remember just how fortunate I am. I have family that loves me, friends to laugh with, a job, a car, a house, enough money to pay bills and buy groceries and to buy extras like running shoes and toys for Sam. I can turn the heat up on a cold winter night without worrying that my oil is going to run out. I can donate to some of my favorite causes. We can treat ourselves to gelato and dinner out. I can go for a run with friends in the middle of the day on a weekday. I can buy special grain-free food for my two spoiled cats, and we have enough money to go to the doctor when someone is sick.

At work, I hear stories every day from and about people who are struggling to stay in their homes, we don't have oil in their fuel tanks, who have had to give up their animals because they've become homeless, who are just trying to make ends meet and not succeeding, often through a series of unfortunate circumstances that have just become too much for them to handle. It certainly puts it all into perspective. And so, with Thanksgiving one day away, I write this to remind myself that, really, life overall is pretty damn good. And for that I am very thankful.

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And just so this post isn't entirely serious...

Yesterday at daycare, Sam's class went through a list of food typically eaten at Thanksgiving dinner and together made up a chart of what they would eat. Sam's row had "no"s to everything, even the pies (!), except corn (which we don't typically have at Irene and Dana's for Thanksgiving), carrots (which she won't like because in this case they'll be cooked) and rolls (again, which we don't typically have at Thanksgiving but which I asked Irene belatedly to get so that Sam would be able to eat at least ONE thing off the Thanksgiving table like the rest of us). Ha! Good heavens, she's a picky soul! Guess who's going to be eating pasta for Thanksgiving dinner?! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!