Thankfulness Thankful-list

I’ve been brimming with thankfulness recently, but haven’t always done the best job expressing it. Plus, there have been about a million tiny annoyances that come with uprooting your entire family’s life and subsequently building a new one, that can easily threaten to steal my joy if I’m not careful. Yes, it’s annoying to not have a refrigerator (long story, but don’t pity me too much- we do have an old one in the garage, so complaining about taking 4 extra steps outside to my fully functioning, jam packed with nutritious deliciousness appliance is totally a white whine. Also…I have a garage. Like- a entire extra indoor space, attached to this other thing I own, in which I put more things that I also own.) But even with those pesky mini-problems, it’s still pretty much awesome to be me. Not because I’m awesome. But because I’ve been awesomely blessed. 

  

wait..some people put cars in their garages? weird. 

Every day I have at least one moment where I look around and am just struck silent by how great our lives are. Maybe it’s shallow, because plenty of the gratitude is for material things, but hey: gratitude is gratitude. I’m aware of how enormously lucky (blessed) we are to have a healthy family, great relationships, a strong marriage etc. but my brain can’t fully comprehend privilege of that magnitude, so instead, I take note of the little things- crunchy ice, new striped bins for our shoes, the possibility of convincing Dustin to take up birdwatching with me….

I don’t want to drone on about our awesome-awesomeness like a parade of our riches, but I do want to consciously pay tribute to the great stuff about this life stage (and you know I can’t resist the opportunity for another list!) It’s hard to quit jobs, switch schools, and leave friends, sell a house, buy a house, start new jobs, get new doctors and insurance, and utilities, and….everything. But underneath the thin layer of hassle, and thick layer of exhaustion, is a core of so good. 

So here is a (hopelessly incomplete) list of things I’m thankful for in this moment. Plus some iphone photos that are only somewhat related. (Because I'm lucky if I can even find my camera, let alone use it. And forget about uploading them. That requires a cord, and free time, and....Ok, back to the list!)

• Our daycare providing meals- meaning, in the morning we can still throw a couple of (thawed) frozen pancakes at those two teenage piglets disguised as children, but if they don’t eat them all, or they choose to turn them into scalp exfoliant (Fin…) then they’re guaranteed another meal or two (or three) before dinner. 

Skyline time!

• Our backyard is so stinkin’ great. I could weep I love it so much. So much eating, and drinking, and water-tabling has already happened, and it’s barely June. 
• My super cute new water bottle. (sure, it sweats and leaves a little ring on my desk, but it makes me feel like I’m a little plastic French person). 
• This birthday card I found six months later. It makes me so happy.

• Booze in grocery stores. One stop shop. 
• Free audiobooks from the library. It’s like reading in the car, but safer, and less vomit inducing. 
• The game Piper and Fin invented that I’m pretty sure is called- “I’ll jump on the mattress, while you hold on to the bed railing and bounce, and we’ll both laugh and shriek and laaaaaaaaaaaaaugh some more, while mama gets 5 minutes of ironing done”. As of yet- no one has been irreversibly harmed during its play, so it’s officially sanctioned in our home. 

This photo defies all explanation. Oh how I love these goons.

• Sunshine. Oh so much glorious sunshine. For the last few weeks, it’s magically rained on weekdays, and been STUPID gorgeous all weekend. Yes please and thank you.
• People tripping over themselves to watch my kids. Or at least not rolling their eyes when I ask them again for help.

These little blue moving stickers are on pretty much every thing we own. 

Including baby bums. 

• WiFi, and DVR. It’s been a while. 
• The guy at work who plays an extremely eclectic smattering of music every afternoon on full-blast as a part of what I believe to be a total request live- office version type situation. I’m still digging into details on how to participate, but so far I’m 100% benefiting from being in earshot of (aka: on the same city block as) his speakers.

•  Neighbors who stop over just to say hi.  And invite us for beers. And share their sidewalk chalk. And drop off welcome soda. And MOW OUR LAWN. (Seriously. That all happened. I think we moved into Pleasantville.) 

• Coke Zero. Forever and always. 

P.s. Someday I’ll return to blogging regularly, and in non-list form. Maybe. Or I might just forget the whole thing and instagram pics from my deck.