Giving Thanks

Once again this Thanksgiving, like many other people all over the good ol' U.S. of A., I feel compelled to sit down and really ponder my thanks, and express just how much I am grateful for every thing, good and bad, that has made my life what it is today.

I am thankful, first and foremost, for my health, without which I wouldn't be able to enjoy the other things on my list I need to give thanks for.

I am thankful for Andrea. The person with whom - after all these 12+ years - I'd most want to be stuck on a desert island with.

I am thankful for my Peanut, who keeps me smiling (and who, by the way, seems to have figured out how to sleep. Hallelujah and please don't take it away just 'cause I bragged about it!).

I am thankful for Baby #2, who I just KNOW is going to be the most serene and zen-like little one anyone has ever laid eyes on.

Next, I am thankful for my whole family back home. I think of them daily and miss their presence in my life, and am always appreciative of how things just seem to flow back into their normal routine even after just 3 seconds together again.

I am thankful for Andrea's family, who have from Day 1 taken me in as if I were a daughter.

I am thankful for all my amazing friends, near and far, who have not only helped share this Life and its Adventures, but have supplied themselves as the laugh track to soothe me on even the worst of days.

I am thankful for my job and the wonderful people I work with, who make making a living a real joy.

I am (nerdily enough) thankful for facebook, which has put me back in touch with old friends and that offers me food for thought and/or laughs on any given day.

I am thankful for the food on the table, the roof over my head, the luxuries of life I am able to afford myself and my family, and for canned pumpkin which helps the gap become a wee bit smaller on days like today.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Random memory.

This morning I suddenly remembered the very day Sofia first claimed her independence.

We were walking along in the park, as we were prone to do practically every day during her first year of life, when she suddenly started screaming. And kicking. Like a crazy person. She was not a happy camper. Had she eaten? Check. Was she hot? Nope. Cold? Nope. Was there a piece of metal accidentally stuck into her ribcage? Not that I could see. I tried everything. Hushes and songs, antics and more bottle. Nada.

On a whim, I decided to turn her stroller seat around - from facing me to turned out to the world. And wouldn't ya know it? She stopped screaming.

And I had to smile. My little girl...5 months, if I remember right?...had already had enough of my face and was ready to take on the world.