Yeah, I know November is over, but this morning I feel particularly thankful. I don't know why, but I'm gonna hop on board and ride this wave.
These are in no particular order.
1. I'm thankful for my next-door neighbors, H and T. Yesterday D and I dug a french tile trench on the side of our house nearest them. It looks terrible and will until spring when 1. the tile does its job and keeps the ground from being a soggy mess and 2. we can till it and plant grass seed. H and T's kitchen table looks out on this, but they are cool with it. They understand the drudgery that is homeownership.
2. I'm thankful for the 2 years we had with our beloved piano teacher, I. She will be moving across the country in the next month and having her first baby a short time after that. N and I adore her, and though we are sad to see her go, I suspect that for both her and us, this is probably one of those "door closing, window opening" situations.
3. I'm thankful for my best friend's baby, C. With my own nieces and nephews, they are all so close in age to my own children, I didn't really get to enjoy their babyhoods because I was too involved in my own children's babyhoods. With Baby C, I get to snuggle and love on her and then leave.
4. I'm thankful for my new windows, which will be installed sometime this month. As much as I hate the paying for them, I look forward to the chill being reduced, clear, non-foggy glass and no mildew/mold in the sill drains.
5. I'm thankful that this has been a mostly pleasant Thanksgiving break, and my children and husband haven't aggravated the shit out of me.
6. I'm thankful the weird nagging feeling of "you are ignoring your children" has left the premises. For the longest time (and by this I mean years) I felt anxiety whenever I just left my kids to their own devices. If I wasn't interacting with them like every second, I felt pinches of guilt. It was unbearable. At some point, when I wasn't even paying attention, I stopped feeling that sensation.
7. I'm thankful for daydreaming about vacation. Usually I start the daydreaming in January, but this year it began in November. With my part-time teaching job, we should be able to start going on vacation every year, and for that I'm thankful as well. Our vacation this past summer to Edisto Island was magical. I think my family is hitting that sweet spot where vacations don't feel quite as cumbersome as they did when the kids were more babyish.
8. I'm thankful I've started going to church on an unscheduled, half-assed basis. It has helped negate that vague longing to just sit in a church community which I carried with me for many years when I stopped attending the Catholic mass. Although I am attending a Christian church and still have serious issues with Catholic dogma, I'm also thankful for the new Catholic pope, who is radical and kick-ass in a definitely more Jesus-like way.
9. I'm thankful to be teaching again, and I'm thankful that it is part-time. It has rekindled my love of literature and my enthusiasm for instruction.
10. I'm thankful for consignment stores, which allow me to buy things for myself that are pretty darn nice without feeling guilty spending a small fortune on clothes. I was able to snag some Cabi jeans for $20 last week. For a frugal freak like me, that is like theft.
11. I'm thankful M likes to sing. It brings me a tremendous amount of joy hearing him sing songs from preschool in his squeaky voice. I savor ever song he sings that he has learned from his LeapFrog Scout dog. It won't be but a couple years before that voice has matured, and those songs are a thing of the past.
12. I'm thankful N is such a sensitive soul. She feels things deeply and loves hard.
13. I'm thankful G is so darn funny. It helps minimize the urge to strangle him. The other night in the car he was talking (sorta to himself because I'm not sure M was listening to him) about building houses. He was talking about the bricks, and D and I heard him say "you put butter on the bricks with scrapers."
14. I'm thankful D and I can appreciate each other's humor. Like with G, it helps reduce the likelihood that we will kill each other.
Of course, there are many other things I could say I'm thankful for, but I've always enjoyed trying to think of things outside the obvious box.
These are in no particular order.
1. I'm thankful for my next-door neighbors, H and T. Yesterday D and I dug a french tile trench on the side of our house nearest them. It looks terrible and will until spring when 1. the tile does its job and keeps the ground from being a soggy mess and 2. we can till it and plant grass seed. H and T's kitchen table looks out on this, but they are cool with it. They understand the drudgery that is homeownership.
2. I'm thankful for the 2 years we had with our beloved piano teacher, I. She will be moving across the country in the next month and having her first baby a short time after that. N and I adore her, and though we are sad to see her go, I suspect that for both her and us, this is probably one of those "door closing, window opening" situations.
3. I'm thankful for my best friend's baby, C. With my own nieces and nephews, they are all so close in age to my own children, I didn't really get to enjoy their babyhoods because I was too involved in my own children's babyhoods. With Baby C, I get to snuggle and love on her and then leave.
4. I'm thankful for my new windows, which will be installed sometime this month. As much as I hate the paying for them, I look forward to the chill being reduced, clear, non-foggy glass and no mildew/mold in the sill drains.
5. I'm thankful that this has been a mostly pleasant Thanksgiving break, and my children and husband haven't aggravated the shit out of me.
6. I'm thankful the weird nagging feeling of "you are ignoring your children" has left the premises. For the longest time (and by this I mean years) I felt anxiety whenever I just left my kids to their own devices. If I wasn't interacting with them like every second, I felt pinches of guilt. It was unbearable. At some point, when I wasn't even paying attention, I stopped feeling that sensation.
7. I'm thankful for daydreaming about vacation. Usually I start the daydreaming in January, but this year it began in November. With my part-time teaching job, we should be able to start going on vacation every year, and for that I'm thankful as well. Our vacation this past summer to Edisto Island was magical. I think my family is hitting that sweet spot where vacations don't feel quite as cumbersome as they did when the kids were more babyish.
8. I'm thankful I've started going to church on an unscheduled, half-assed basis. It has helped negate that vague longing to just sit in a church community which I carried with me for many years when I stopped attending the Catholic mass. Although I am attending a Christian church and still have serious issues with Catholic dogma, I'm also thankful for the new Catholic pope, who is radical and kick-ass in a definitely more Jesus-like way.
9. I'm thankful to be teaching again, and I'm thankful that it is part-time. It has rekindled my love of literature and my enthusiasm for instruction.
10. I'm thankful for consignment stores, which allow me to buy things for myself that are pretty darn nice without feeling guilty spending a small fortune on clothes. I was able to snag some Cabi jeans for $20 last week. For a frugal freak like me, that is like theft.
11. I'm thankful M likes to sing. It brings me a tremendous amount of joy hearing him sing songs from preschool in his squeaky voice. I savor ever song he sings that he has learned from his LeapFrog Scout dog. It won't be but a couple years before that voice has matured, and those songs are a thing of the past.
12. I'm thankful N is such a sensitive soul. She feels things deeply and loves hard.
13. I'm thankful G is so darn funny. It helps minimize the urge to strangle him. The other night in the car he was talking (sorta to himself because I'm not sure M was listening to him) about building houses. He was talking about the bricks, and D and I heard him say "you put butter on the bricks with scrapers."
14. I'm thankful D and I can appreciate each other's humor. Like with G, it helps reduce the likelihood that we will kill each other.
Of course, there are many other things I could say I'm thankful for, but I've always enjoyed trying to think of things outside the obvious box.
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