An Early Thanksgiving Post

So we are approaching the time of year where talk about what we are thankful for.

I am thankful for a lot of obvious things –

My husband

My daughter

My house

My job

My health

But lately I have been watching. I have been watching the life that goes on all around me. I mean really watching. So I have made a list of things I am thankful for that I hope you will make you think what you are thankful for –

I am thankful that my house didn’t burn down last summer and that my family of five wasn’t totally uprooted and that I don’t have to deal with the insurance company who hasn’t even started re-building the house.

I am thankful that my child is healthy and didn’t die because of some disease like cancer and that I don’t have to plan a celebration of life, which is really a funeral.

I am thankful that my husband didn’t leave me and my kid and that I don’t have to ask complete strangers for gas/food money because there are no other options.

I am thankful that I didn’t open the door last night to find a man in uniform standing there to tell me that my child was killed in the line of duty.

I am thankful that my parents remember who I am when I call or see them and that Alzheimer’s hasn’t stolen their memories, both good and bad.

I am thankful that my dad doesn’t make me, because of my religion, wear long sleeves and have my head covered to the neighborhood pool while all the other kids, including my brother, are in normal bathing suits.

I am thankful that my parents taught me that it was wrong to be mean to someone just because of their sexual preference and I am even more thankful that I am not a parent of a child who has killed themselves because of bullying.

These are just some of the things that make me thankful this year.

What are you thankful for?