Thankful Thought - November 7

Today I am thankful that I have access to quality health care. I'm living vicariously, at the moment, via a friend who is travelling the world. She has been to Greece, Brazil, South Africa, India and is now in China. She has seen immense poverty and immense wealth. But with that immense poverty comes a huge lack of even basic health care. Seeing the world through her pictures, through her eyes, has made me so grateful that even though I hate going to the doctor, I at least have the choice, the option, to go.

Thankful Thought - November 6

Today I am thankful for the extreme good luck I have, that most of us have, for being born in a free country. I am so exceedingly grateful that I was born in The United States of America and this is something I remember, even at a very early age, being thankful for. It might be due to the fact that my family was exposed to so many different cultures and types of people due to my mom's job at the School of International Education at OSU or the fact that my parents were involved with the church community that didn't discriminate based on race, creed, gender or anything else....but one of my earliest memories is that of sitting in our beat up, run down car at one of the only two stop lights in my hometown, waiting to get to the wrong side of the tracks, where of course, our home was located, and thinking, wow, I am so lucky to have this. Even then I realized that though we didn't have a lot, especially back then, that we were doing a lot better than many people in this world. That's something I think we take for granted for a bulk of our time. We have had great luck in that we were born Americans. That we didn't have to fight for freedom. That we didn't have to fight to live in this country. That's something to think about, especially as we have people who are still struggling to live here.

Thankful Thought - November 5

Today I am thankful that I have full cupboards, a stocked pantry and a fridge/freezer combo that provides sustenance for us. Due to growing up lacking quite a few things that other kids had, I have a sense of low grade anxiety when my home is not stocked with dry and canned goods. I feel so grateful that we are able to keep that anxiety down and our stock pile of goods up these days. Such a weird thing to think about or to have anxiety over, but I have peace of mind knowing that if something were to happen, we could ration out our food for at least a month.

Yes, I know I'm weird, but that's a survival instinct that was driven into my head since I was young. Always be prepared, always have canned/dry goods on hand...just in case.

Thankful Thought - November 4

For today's thankful thought, I would like to give thanks to the fact that I have extra weight that I'm carrying. That means that I live in a country where we are lucky enough to have problems like weighing a bit too much while there are so many others in this world that are still dying of starvation. I may not be 100% satisfied with how my body looks, but I am so grateful what it means. It means that I have plenty of food to eat, that I'm not dying of starvation or thirst...that I live in the land of plenty, even when so many here are making huge sacrifices due to the financial crisis. As many of the bloggers have said before, even though we are in the 99% in this country, we are the 1% to much of the rest of the world.

Thankful Thought - November 3

Today I am thankful that I have amazing friends who support me no matter how crazy my decisions might seem. When I made the decision to move to Colorado, everyone was supportive. When I went through a terrible depression, that showed me who truly cared about me and helped me leave those who made me worse. My friends have always been there for me and I hope that I can return the favor for them.

Thankful Thought - November 2

Today I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally, takes care of me when I'm not feeling well, and surprises me daily with demonstrations of his love. I love my family, but my parents didn't show love all that well so learning to live with a highly emotional Italian man has been interesting to say the least, but I wouldn't trade in this life for anything!

Thankful Thought - November 1

One of my high school friends just posted a thought on facebook and I'm totally going to steal it from her. She is going to try and post one thing she is thankful for each day of November. Sounds like a good idea...and because I'm such a slacker at actually posting, please expect to see multiple posts for multiple days on one day...retroactively of course =)

So Thankful Thought - November 1st

Today I am thankful that I have a job that helps keep our house warm, food in our bellies and a roof over our head. True, it provides a constant source of frustration, but I am lucky to have that source when so many people are without employment.