Giving Thanks

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,
a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and
creates a vision for tomorrow."

~Melody Beattie

I have loads of half-written posts that I need to finish and publish, but I wanted to pause for a moment on this Thanksgiving morning to reflect on that for which I am most thankful. Since lists and I like each other, here goes...

1. I'm thankful for my family. Their love, their support, their humor, their interest in me, and their encouragement (they are great cheerleaders!). It's nice to know that you have a whole group of people in your court.

2. I'm thankful for my job. It may not be all I wish for and I may not love every minute of it, but overall it's a good place to be. And the alternative is certainly not a place I want to be right now. Good people. It's giving me experience. It's paying my bills and for that I'm grateful.

3. I'm so thankful for my home. I love my home and being in a nice warm, cozy place is pure luxury, I know.

4. I'm thankful for the formal education I have had and am now getting. So many teachers, so many topics, so many lessons learned. My life is forever enriched by all of them and the desire for life-long learning continues to burn within me.

5. I'm thankful for trees. And for mountains. And the ocean. And sunsets and sunrises. CLOUDS. I'm thankful for clouds. For the rain and treasured foggy, misty mornings.

6. I'm thankful for friends. New and old. Those who have come and gone and those that are here to stay. I'm immensely grateful to those who warmly reach out to me. Reaching out to others comes relatively naturally to me, but it's like a breath of fresh air when someone else takes the lead.

7. I'm thankful for God. The comfort and peace that come with having a relationship and connection with God is a blessing. Knowing and imagining what my heavenly parents are like gives me hope and peace.

8. I'm grateful for Zumba. It breathes in new life every time. Endorphins! And my Zumba teacher, Jennifer. Her smile and cheerful nature is infectious.

9. My bed. Oh, I'm so thankful for my bed. It's the best.

10. The internet. I'll say it. I'm thankful for the internet.

Happy Thanksgiving!