Thankful

I am.  Very.  I'm thankful for a lot of things.

I'm thankful for a roof over my head that is paid for except for the yearly expenses in taxes, insurance, and maintenance.  It's a small house, but it's warm, and we can heat and cool it without breaking the bank.  A lot of people don't have that much.

I'm thankful for my pantry.  I have enough that I can wing a Thanksgiving dinner for myself and my family (since my mother and sister are sick).  I'm thankful for that, and for the fact that there's enough in the pantry to get us through quite a few lean times. 

I'm thankful for my friends.  I don't have many, but then again, the ones I have are spectacular. 

I'm thankful for my children.  It's not been easy, the process of turning them from self-centered, unthinking, walking lumps of cuteness to thinking, semi-considerate, walking, talking bits of cuteness, but we've made it this far, and we're still working.  Yes, it would have been easier to just leave them be and let them do what they want, just as it would have been easier and cheaper to put them in public school...but it wouldn't have been the right thing to do, and I love them both far too much to half-ass things. 

I'm thankful for my other half.  Without his support, nothing in my life would have been possible--not my education, not my home, not my pantry, not my friends.  Nothing.    I thank God for him every day.

I am also thankful to have been born in the United States of America.  Without that, there's no telling what my life would have been like.