Almost a week away

I am working for two hours tomorrow then I am off for a week. Tuesday morning I am on a flight to New York and beyond and I won't be back to work until November 4th. I need this time off. I need to get away and clear my head. I need to be away from the store and prioritize. I am so grateful for this opportunity even if it means missing my honey and my Harley.

Whew!

It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged this- but I have been practicing my gratitude in small ways. Every morning when we walk, I think about what I am grateful for. When I am driving and stop at stop signs or in traffic- I find something to be thankful for. When I stand outside- looking up at the sky and marveling at the beauty of the moon and the stars- I am thankful.

I woke up this morning feeling like "blah- I don't feel like working on a Saturday" but I turned it around to being thankful to have a job to go to.

It has been a struggle some days- but I am finding that when I am in a gratitude state of mind, I just feel lighter. And I like that feeling. I like it enough to keep it going. <3

Small things to be thankful for

First- I am very thankful that I was not involved in the auto accident that I witnessed tonight. It scared the crap out of us it was so loud and so close. And I am thankful that noone was injured because it could have been really, really bad.


Now for the little things- I am thankful that:

• Harley doesn't bark like the dog across the way
• Harley doesn't try to "escape" all of the time like a couple of people I know's dogs.
• My hands don't look like the photos I saw at the Arthritis Expo.
• We at least checked out Harvest Homecoming even though it was too crowded for us to stay for long.
• Josh calls almost every day even if it is just to say Hi
• The people you least expect keep in the most contact
• some silly movies can make you feel so good no matter how many times you watch them
• the Pats are national tomorrow night so I won't have to watch the Colts instead
• That so many of my friends are online. <3

Freedom of Choice

No- this is not a post about abortion. I am not even going there. This post is about all of the millions of choices we make in our life. Our choices are both big and small but all affect us in a myriad of ways. We can choose something as minute as to go left or right, we can choose which shoes we want to wear, what clothes to put on, what to eat for breakfast.

We can choose to have a good day or a bad. We choose to see the good in people or the bad. We choose who we see as role models and who we choose not to emulate. We choose how we treat our bodies, how we treat ourselves, how we treat other people. We choose how we would have other people treat us.

I try to do my best to keep in the back of my head a simple phrase- "Make better choices." I am just grateful for the opportunity to do so.

The Knifty Knitter

I am thankful today for the Knifty Knitter. I have a nephew and an honorary neice being born between now and 15 December. For all of the kids in my family who have been born I have made them a blanket when they were born but hand work is becoming increasingly more difficult and time consuming. Heck- it took me 5 months to make a scarf for Josh (my son) last year for Christmas. I found this tool over the weekend and it took me about 4 hours to get comfortable with it. I *should* have both blankets finished by the end of the month so that I can hand deliver them when I go back to Massachusetts.

It is hard coming to grips with what you "can't" do anymore. Finding something like this that makes it possible to keep on doing things you love can mean so much.

Geography and good decisions

Today I am thankful for proximity. We are going to my parent's house today and it is so lovely after so long (over 20 years) to be able to just get in the car and do that. When we made the decision to move out here- we hadn't lived in the same state except for a couple of months since 1986. I was a little apprehensive because I am their non-traditional child and I didn't know how we would handle the differences. I need not have worried. I had forgotten how much we really enjoy one another. It has been 17 months and we still think it has been the best thing we have done for all around.

October

Today I am thankful for October. I love October.

October brings us cool crisp mornings and beautiful afternoons. We get the MLB playoffs and football season (GO SOX AND PATS!). We get Halloween- my favorite holiday of the year! School is fully in session, rush is over which means time to relax a little and catch up at work. This year it means a surprise trip back to Massachusetts and I miss my baby so it is more than welcome. It gives us fairs and festivals to enjoy, new seasons of television and time to gear up for Thanksgiving.

As the commercials say- "There's only one Ahch-tobah!"