What I'm Fankful For

First of all, I'm thankful that I have two kids who both still sometimes don't pronounce the 'th' properly in words because it is freaking adorable.  Both of them, last night, at the table were talking about what they are 'fankful for'.  As tomorrow is Thankgiving, I shall give you a brief list of some of what I'm thankful for!

My family.  (This obviously is just my immediate family but I am thankful for ALL of my family) I am thankful to have a good and working relationship with all my family members. And to have a partner that I am completely IN LOVE with.  And to have a couple of pretty cool kiddos.

I am also thankful for my friends (again, not all of them are pictured here.)  I feel so lucky to have such great friends.  Real friends, that I go to coffee/tea with, that can call me to come over and talk, that I can take Zumba classes with, that I can have dinner with once a month and talk about our partners and our children and laugh so loud, the people at the table next to us give us looks.

I am thankful for my neighborhood.  This is a cool picture of only some of the neighbor kids. But I have an amazing and idyllic hood.  We sump pump each other's basements, unplug each others pine-cone filled heat vents, watch each others kids, make each other food when there is a birth or death, have dinner, coffee, treats together.  We play date and drop in on and and have chili cook offs and twice a year block parties. 

I am also thankful for my job.  I work at a really great company who supports its employees and has a mission I believe in passionately.  I also really really really have fun in my job and feel good about what I do and very much enjoy the people I work with.

And I am also extremely and utterly thankful for my kids' school--Highland Community School.  I sometimes can't even talk about how much I love it there without crying.  Seriously. (Well, I know I am a little weird).  But it is not just a school. It is a community. It is a family.  The people at Highland love my kids and everyone is invested in the education and the community and social justice and peace.

Finally, I am thankful, this year, to my therapist. I am not kidding.  I know I am always all sunny and oh isn't life perfect all the time and that can be annoying to some people.  I have even had people ask me, are you EVER unhappy?  I am.  Of course I am.  Life can be hard. And sometimes I feel miserable, just like everyone else.  I don't mean for my blog to seem like it isn't real, because yes. I get pissed off and I get mean and ugly and I feel sorry for myself and I struggle.  Don't we all? And this year, my therapist is helping me tremendously, steer my life in the direction I would like to see it go.

But when it comes down to it, I really love my life and most everything in it.  Here's a quote that I received over email today from a woman at work for whom I have tremendous respect:

To live a life of gratitude

is to open our eyes to the countless ways
in which we are supported by the world around us.

Such a life provides less space for our suffering
because our attention is more balanced.

~Gregg Krech, Naikan: Gratitude, Grace & the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection

Everyone suffers, and often we focus on the bad becasue our brains were created to have more memory of that stuff. But I try to, as often as I can, be grateful for the things that support my being

Happy Fanksgiving!!!