abundance

It's the best holiday tomorrow, a combination of eating well and counting one's blessings. I give thanks every day, God has given me a lot and the crazy part is that the more I stop and reflect on how grateful I am, the more content I become. This attitude of gratitude winds up making me even happier.

In no particular order, some reasons I feel THANKFUL: *my bum knee is holding up without medication or surgery, I can hike, swim and bike without concern *good health, my own and my family's *Mr. T adjusting well to college life and making progress in the "figuring out what to do with my "life" portion of this exercise *Mr. B making excellent choices and working so diligently in school *Mr. G taking responsibility for himself in so many ways *the rich sense of humor in this home *the colorful dash of birds in our trees outside and their happy songs *those 2 crazy cats, Rose & Thorn, who give head butts and enthusiastically purr in exchange for food, water and clean litter *a good trail for hiking *a stack of good reading material *a job that makes me feel like I'm making a contribution to the world *Wisconsin's election results this fall *friendships that make me a better human *a fantastic church that practices what it preaches and pushes me to grow my faith *new mercies each day *Mr. D's new satisfaction and enthusiasm with his work *new sheets on my bed *scoring Stranger Things season 2 at Target last weekend *time to play this weekend *a nugget of a workable idea for my next writing project (still have to finish the current one, but until a week ago I had no clue what I'd work on next) *the smell of pine and rotting leaves *sunshine (it's a a premium this time of year) *the willing and engaging and hardworking students who show up in Room 212 every day *the second floor copier *a front porch with a hammock *dark chocolate covered almonds *the sound of my sons getting along with each other

Spill it, reader. Give a little thanks here and you'll see what I mean about how it makes you feel!