forever thankfulness

I have a couple of friends that have a way with words that you can't even imagine....they are funny, they are inspiring, they are beautiful, they just...are....Then there have been a few people who's blogs I follow who have just written about what they are thankful for despite some of the things that they have been through. After reading that, I couldn't help but sit back and think, wow, my friends have been through some stuff. Fires, loss of parents, loss of best friends, loss of marriage, health crisis, financial crisis, alcoholism, homelessness, abuse,.....things that any lesser of a person had gone through, they would have just thrown their hands in the air and said, "I give up."

....Not my friends, not these other women... no way, no how....

Having read all the things they had been through and their thanks, I couldn’t help but start looking back at my own life. What have I been through? What? Have? I? Been? Through? Well, not a hell of whole lot….with the exception of losing a best friend twelve years ago, my mother eight years ago, & my mother in law last month, I have had a pretty good life…..I truly can’t complain. I mean, yeah, those are pretty major…but people lose parents every day. I had my mom up until I was 30 years old, some people lose their parents at an early age, never getting to know them. I had Rusty in my life for a few years too and to be honest, as much as I would love to have my red faced little friend here, I don’t know if I would have the life that I have, if he were here. My husband and I say that Rusty actually did in death, what he couldn’t do while alive…and that was bring us together.

Soooo, I don’t have the greatest way with words, but I’m gonna try this out….These are the things that I am FOREVER thankful for…..I am forever thankful for my remaining family…my sister and brother, who are there for me and love me, no matter what I do. I am forever thankful that I had a set of grandparents, who, although suffering in health and mental awareness, set an example of a love that has spanned 64, yes…SIXTY FOUR, years of marriage and though at times they couldn't  remember names, faces, or where they were at times, they would light up when one another would walk into a room and flirt, kiss, and wink at one another like they are teenagers.  I am forever thankful for my husband, who loves me, not in spite of my madness, but because of it and lets me be me. I am forever thankful for my children, who at times, I don’t think could care less that I am in the room, but at other times can’t seem to be close enough to me. I am thankful for an Aunt, who didn’t take the place of my mother, but is a wonderful substitute when I need one. I am forever thankful for a father in law who loves me as one of his own…I am his daughter, not daughter in law. I am forever thankful for friends that I have had since birth, who, at the drop of a hat is there next to me when I am in need, whether it be to organize my wedding, get me through the jitters the night before, the birth of my child or death of my mother, she is always there. I am forever thankful for that friend who knows that despite the hard front I put out there to everyone, inside, there is a girl whose feelings get hurt easily and who cries at home, alone, in the bathroom, where no one, not even her family can see her. That same friend knows, even sometimes before I do, to call and make me laugh. That friend inspires me to be better a better person. I am thankful for new friends, ones that I haven’t even met in person, but somehow, I know that we are kindred spirits.  I am thankful for Shetland Ponies…random, I know, but I saw a special once on what joy they bring to sick people’s lives…just had to throw that in there….I am thankful for a job in a department where I work with people who are like my family. We take care of one another and are genuinely concerned if one of us is hurting.

Okay, I’m thinking that this is about as touchy feely that most of you will ever see me, but as long as you know that I am just forever thankful for all things…little, big, real, or imagined….I don’t mind you seeing that side of me for once. I reckon.