Gratitude on Thanksgiving Day

( This week, I found a half written document on my computer from over a year ago. Apparently I was on the beach in Mexico and the time... but I wanted to finish and post this as I am truly grateful for many many things and people today)

I love social media. I am in another country today and still talking to my kids easily and getting/receiving photos and comments all day long.

I am grateful for beaches. They are beautiful and fascinating and calming and fun and relaxing. 

I am grateful for all of God’s creations to enjoy.

I am grateful for friends new and old. I was on a road trip with a friend of 30 years and a new friend. We got along famously and enjoyed the company of a girl’s road trip.

I am grateful for my husband. We enjoy times together and enjoy independent activities too and enjoy sharing those activities when we get back together.

I am grateful for Google Translate. International travel is survivable when I can read signs through a simple translation app.

I am grateful for hot water. I take it for granted, then whine when I don’t have it.

I am grateful for parents who taught me so many things through word, and through example. I had the wonderful opportunity to have several parents and I love them all dearly.

I am grateful that when I plug a cord into an electrical receptacle, electricity automatically (and because I don’t understand it, I will also say “magically”) courses through the cord and makes my clock/vacuum/tv/charger/lamp/fan/computer/washer/dryer/shredder/mixer/breadmaker/sewing

machine/ etc etc work.

I am grateful for good comfortable shoes to walk and walk and walk in. I can hike all over the hills and my feet stay protected and comfortable.

I am grateful for ice. (my friends and family know how much I want/need ice)

I am grateful for a printer and ink.

I am grateful for good memories. (our dogs, the kid's trampoline, my red cars, our first apartment)

I am grateful for kind people in my life.

I am grateful for a well stocked toolbox.

I am grateful for my camera. I love the collections of memories my photos provide over the years.

I am grateful for my bookclub, Books yes, but mostly for my friends in bookclub.

I am grateful for my children. It is harder and harder to get them all together in one place at one time. All I want is a family photo, with all 11 of us in the frame, but I know they are all busy getting smart, and doing good in the world. 

I am grateful for good company sitting around a Sunday evening meal.

I am grateful for sisters in such a quantity of ways that I can’t even list.

I am grateful for grandbabies that warm my heart every single day. (family texts, pictures).

I am grateful for the FedEx delivery man who drops cases of products to my doorstep. Even though I know I recently ordered  a case of toilet paper and paper towels, it’s still fun to get a delivery.

I am grateful for a good pedicure.

I am grateful for insurance, peace of mind knowing we are generally financially protected from disasters.

I am grateful for a winter lawn in Arizona. There is nothing prettier than that beautiful lush green in our backyard through the winter.

I am grateful for our dishwasher. Although I have a love/hate relationship with it as I fill and empty it, I find I enjoy the fact that it is washing my dishes at this very moment, and I’m not in the kitchen to do it myself.

I am grateful for our piano, which is old, gets horribly out of tune, is nearly impossible to maintain the integrity of pure musical notes, but is a wonderful connection to my mother who played it 50 years ago.

I am grateful for my dining room table as it brings back memories of our family of 11 sitting around it during my youth and the meals, the  homework, the FHE lessons, all the activities that happened around that table.. I am so grateful my parents passed it on to me.

I am grateful for my son-in-laws who are good and kind men. 

I am grateful for girlfriends in my life who always bring balance and wisdom to my sometimes crazy life. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!