I Am Thankful

On this cold, quiet Thursday morning, I am thankful for so very much. 

• I am thankful for the roof over my head. My house is small. My yard is huge. They both need a lot of work. But this has been our home for the past six-and-a-half years, and a very sweet home it's been. 
• I am thankful for the Highlander sitting outside. It's nearing 200,000 miles, it's survived a rollover accident, and it's lately sprung an oil leak of indeterminate origin, but it has kept Riley and me safe and delivered us to all sorts of wonderful places over the past seven years, and it still runs.
• I am thankful for my job. It is trying and stressful at times. And sometimes it's just boring. But it challenges me, and allows me to work with some wonderful people, and put food on the table.
• I am thankful for my radio gig. Every Tuesday evening I get to chat with good friends and interesting guests about all manner of things political (and sometimes not). I get to research and contemplate topics that fascinate me and then share my views on them. I get to follow my passion.
• I am thankful for this wonderful country of ours. It's easy to focus on the negatives and become overwhelmed with all that isn't right. But we live in a beautiful, bountiful land.  In a nation built on the bedrock principle of freedom.  A republic if we can keep it. 
• I am thankful for the men and women who serve our country in the military. Who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. Most especially those who are doing so today, far from their families and loved ones.
• I am thankful for the nurses and doctors and other medical personnel who have cared for me these past few months.
• I am thankful for my health -- though it obviously hasn't been perfect of late. I'm still here. I'm still strong.  I will heal.
• I am thankful for the furballs who inhabit my house.  Pringle with his waggy, destructive tail and big, expressive brown eyes; Hurricane with his hair band and ice chip fetish and Stormy with his squeaky mewl and affinity for all bags and backpacks. I can have a horrible day, and then one of them will come lay his head on my lap or snuggle up against me, and all seems right with the world again.  And even poor Louis, the fish. Even though he can't really cuddle, it makes me smile to say hello to him in his little bowl on the counter each morning.  
• I am thankful for my friends, both near and far. Most especially this fall, I've come to realize just how blessed I am to know so many wonderful, kind-hearted, supportive people.
• I am thankful for my inner circle -- the ones who have held my hand when I was low and belly laughed with me when life made us high.
• I am thankful for my extended family -- my passel of cousins whom I don't get to see nearly enough, but am able to keep up with compliments of Facebook. 
• I am thankful for my immediate family -- my parents who still look after me even though they're 80 and I'm 45. They help me in so many ways, and I am so thankful to have them nearby.  My brother and sisters and their families -- I am so very lucky to be close to them all. I know more than a few people who don't have the greatest relationships with their siblings. God blessed me with three of the best anyone could ask for and I love them all more than words can say. 
• I am thankful for my daughter, who's still fast asleep in her room right now. She looks so sweet when she sleeps.  And also when she's awake. She is kind and thoughtful, funny and insightful. She helps me so often without being asked, and even when I do have to ask, she generally does without too much eyerolling. She is becoming a lovely young lady and I am so proud to be her Mom.
• I am thankful for my love, David. I've said this more than a few times: Had I sat down at a drawing board and attempted to draw up the perfect match for me, it would be him. He is so smart and funny, so thoughtful and caring.  He is supportive and generous.  He is strikingly handsome.  He has a wonderful family who've welcomed me warmly.  He is an amazing Dad to his girls.  He is such a good man, and so good to me and for me. I am a very lucky girl.

My life is far from perfect.  But later today, I'll watch football, and maybe paint some of my kitchen to its cool new shade of gray. I'll prepare some Bacon Cheddar Bites as appetizers, and travel with my daughter out to my brother and sister-in-law's gorgeous home in Augusta.  I'll share dinner with them and their family and my folks. And I will give thanks, for all that has been given me.