Thursday's Thanks

I was reading today, about a girl I don't know, that has cancer. She is a mom, and has beaten cancer two times, but now it is back and might be back to stay. I have never read her blog before (I was directed there by someone else) but it struck a cord with me and really made me think. Her blog is in my reader now and I am sure that I will be adding her to the list of Internet "friends" that are made through the communities we all have when we put ourselves out there on the Web. Note that, because I tend to stay pretty anonymous on the web, my community (minus those that know me in real life) is probably pretty small and non-substantial but it is still there.

So anyhow, she asked us what we are grateful for and this got me to thinking. I have a ton to be thankful for, much of it is small everyday things, but the bigger things are probably things I take for granted everyday and don't really even think about. Those are the things that I would incredibly miss if they were gone for even a second of my life and probably need more attention than I give them. They are things that if they weren't in my life at some point, would have changed the person I ended up being. This is a good exercise for my brain because I think I need a good dose of reality and perspective. I tend to sweat the small sh1t and I need to think about all I have got and realize that those small things that I can or can't control on a day to day basis are not the things that matter. The things that matter are bigger than that.

So each week, on Thursday, I am going to put up a post that talks about what I am thankful for. I have so many things that if I tried to put it all in one post, it would be huge and the thanks would get lost. So if I spread them out over the weeks, it will keep the posts at a readable length but also give me a chance to focus on the things that I am grateful for over time. Bear with me, since these might get a bit sappy....

I am grateful for my husband, who is also my best friend. We have a lot in common while still being different enough to keep it interesting and we love each other for those differences as much as we do for the things that are the same between us. We stablize each other, keep each other sane, and in the here and now. I would not have grown into the woman I am without him in my life the last 16 years.

I am thankful for the spring weather (even if that means days of rain as well as sun). It makes me feel alive when I go outside and breathe in the air. It motivates me to get exercise, enjoy the outdoors and tackle projects. It makes my skin feel good. It tells my brain that everything is cyclic and we can always start again.

I am grateful for the Internet because it allows me to stay in touch with my friends and family when I am far away (which seems to be how I always am). If we lived in another country 20 years ago, phone calls and letters would be our only option. And while letters were cheaper than they are today, phone calls were not. These days, I have email, blogs, IM, VOIP, texting, letters, and phone calls, and that makes it so much easier to still feel like I am apart of something that is not near.