seven things on a sunday - thankful edition

Over the past few months I have been tagged in various FB memes for a number of things. I was tagged by a few people for the Thankful one, whatever it's called. The last few months haven't been the best and I have been avoiding much of the online world. I check in once in a while, and offer brief status updates, but really I haven't been all that engaged in participating in social anything. So I thought it might be a nice idea to combine remembering to BLOG with listing things I am thankful for. What better time to do this than over Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Right? Right!1. I am thankful for my family. I had tossed about whether or not to even add this to my list because it seems so unoriginal and obvious, but then I thought, wait, I really AM thankful for my family. My parents, my sister, my in-laws... they have always been there for me. They help me when I am in need of help. They love me and take care of me. They make me laugh, pick me up when I am down, and are just wonderful, supportive people in my life. My parents raised two girls to be polite, respectful, loving, and to treat others well. We grew up in a house of love, sure there were some major blow-outs while growing up (girls are MOOOOODY, yo!) but my parents loved each other (much to the embarrassment of my sister and I), they loved us, and although my sister and I really didn't get along well when we were kids, we did bond over the embarrassment of how mushy our parents were while in public. heh. Oh, and special shout-out to my amazing, dearly-departed grandparents for being cherry on top of family love and wonderfulness. It's only been 6, and 5 years since they are gone and I miss them so much my heart aches, but they helped raise my sister and I and not a weekend went by without seeing them. So, yes, I am VERY thankful for my family and all they have brought to my life!2. I am thankful for my husband! Again, obvious and unoriginal, but completely 100% truthful. There is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful for the amazingness that is my husband. Shawn is always there for me, no matter what. He'll run out to the store if I notice I am out of juice, or bread, or -- and this just happened -- SAGE for the SAGE sausage stuffing I am making for thanksgiving dinner that night! I don't even ask. He just gets up and goes. He makes me laugh so much, even when we're both miserable and sad, he can find a way to find that laughter. He takes care of me so fully and unconditionally. I love this man with all my heart and I can't imagine life without him. I am thankful for all the twists and turns that brought me to the place in my life where we met. He's my rock and my heart. I love him more each day.3. I am thankful for my friends. I grew up thinking no one would ever like me. I wasn't good enough for friends. I was shy and insecure and didn't realize the friends I had in my life didn't actually hate me. It took me ages to trust people and believe that I did have friends who weren't just pretending to like me, or spending time with me out of pity. I have some of the most AMAZING friends in my life these days and sometimes it just makes me stop and think, "Wow. I really DO have friends." I have some long-time friends that I don't see often at all, but when we do see each other, it's almost as if no time has past. I have some newer friends (over the last 10 years) that I was nervous about at first, but am so, so thankful that they are part of my life. I have a support group for when I'm having trouble just living life, or need help with a mental break. I have friends who care about me, and I them. We love each other. We help each other. I trust them. And that's a huge thing, because I don't trust easily. I am thankful for the friends in my life who help make my life richer - either in person, or online!4. I am thankful that I can drive. Ok, this might seem weird to most of you, but really, with my extremely long saga of learning to drive and then FINALLY getting that licence in 2011, this is something I am *newly* thankful for. I guess I should say that I am thankful that I can drive without a ton of anxiety now. I have been driving a lot lately, and so it's freshly in my mind. On Fridays I have been driving all over the place for the past month. I drive after work to pick up Shawn from the bus terminus since he gets home late. I no longer have the steering wheel in a death grip. I am so much more relaxed when I drive and I at times I find that I actually ENJOY driving. Although, I am still thankful that Shawn prefers to drive, so when we're together I just let HIM do it. Heh.5. I am thankful that even though we're not great, we're ok. This one is a stretch, but it's pretty true. Things aren't the happiest right now, things are tough (not with each other, but in the rest of life) and well, we're still ok. We're both working, we're both more-or-less healthy, we can pay the bills, we have each other, we have #NoSophie. We make each other laugh, and we have a ton of love. We are ok. Do we think that's good enough for us? Not really. So we're working on that, but right now? The things that aren't great aren't really the end of the world. We'll get through it. Together. We don't have anything super major to panic over right now though, and that's ok. House over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs... we're ok. And truly, I am thankful for that.6. I am thankful I have (most of) my Halloween Whimsy back. Not quite at 100%, but I did take the decorations out of storage and put some up in the house AND at work. Last year at this time I was a falling apart mess (not realizing that I was dealing with delayed onset PTSD) and I didn't decorate anything. I don't even think I changed up my blog theme... did I? Either way, this year the pumpkins and candles have come out to play once more. I am kind of hoping to find a Jem costume to wear this year because I think three years in a row of Snow White is enough right now, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to wear to work. We get NO kiddies trick-or-treating here, which is a bummer, but that's ok. I like to dress up for myself anyhow. I don't have all of my whimsy back, and I am still having a hard time doing anything fun and creative, but this year as soon as October hit, I was raring to go with my Halloween decor! It is my favourite time of year after all. Next up? CHRISTMAS DECORATING!7. I am thankful for sunsets. Don't laugh. Or do. But it's true. I have a great view from my front stoop of sunsets and I don't know why I have become so infatuated with them over the last couple of years, but I love them. There's something about looking up at the sky that calms me. I love the colours that explode through the clouds as the sun goes down. I am that crazy lady, out on her front stoop, in her jammies (or whatever), after the rain, in the snow, as the sun sets and changes colours over and over. I take photos with my phone and my Canon camera. I just can't get enough of the sunsets. I don't do anything with the photos afterwards, but I just feel like I have to capture those breathtaking moments forever. Even going back to look at them make me hold my breath and just think, "Wow." I'm a dork, whatever. I love them to pieces. Thank you, nature!