Thankful Thought - November 10

Today I am thankful for modern medicine. With all of the advances that are being made in creating a cure for HIV/AIDS to the new treatments for cancer patients being developed daily, it makes me so grateful that we live in this time where new medical advances are being made. I'm also grateful that we have access to things like pain killers and muscle relaxers...my life would be miserable without the latter, or even without advil. So thank you medicine and all of your scientists, for making life better for everyone!

Thankful Thought - November 9

Today I'm going to take a page out of my Aunt's book and be thankful that I know how to cook and bake. Apparently this is a skill that is largely lacking in today's society. Neither of my sister-in-laws know how to cook and/or bake...when they do, it is often times disasterous...but I definitely commend them for trying! I am very grateful to my parents for never buying processed food or ready made meals. I grew up seeing both of my parents cook us delicious food out of the basic staples and for that I am eternally grateful because as I get older, my cooking and baking skills improve...and that is something I hope to pass on to my children someday, just like my parents did.

Thankful Thought - November 8

Today I am thankful that we are able to remember and reflect on the past. Not only our personal histories, but the collective history of the Earth. We can learn so much from the past generations and I think that is something we often forget in this world of instant gratification, contstant communication with our peers and disconnected emotions from reality. Dave and I watched a fairly graphic documentary about the Holocaust over the weekend and it really made me so exceedingly grateful that we do not have to live through that, that we do not have to see that pain and suffering every single day. It really made me so eternally grateful for all that we have, for all the liberties and freedoms that we take for granted, for our families who may frustrate us at times, but will be there no matter what.

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.