Hello all. I suppose with Thanksgiving coming up soon, this would be a good place to begin this thing.
I never like to think of myself as better than anyone, by any means. I am a human being just as Bill Gates is and just as the man standing on the corner of the street is. We are all the same and we are all one, that is one thing that I have learned in my short 21 years here on Earth.
However, I will say that I am a very lucky being. You'll find that I am not one that follows any type of organized religion, but I will say that I am blessed in ways that I could never even ask for nor do I deserve. I am merely a tiny being attempting to make my way in the world and survive, but somehow I was born a lucky one. I really couldn't ask for a better life.
So that leads me to the subject of this blog entry: What am I thankful for?
My family. While my family is far from ordinary (whose family is?), I can't deny that I am thankful for each person in it. I used to be sad and wonder why my family is the way they are (sometimes I still do), because so much has happened. They are dramatic. They are crazy. They are not always fun to deal with. We aren't perfect and we don't get along all the time, but I love them and I would do anything for them.
My sister. While she still falls under the family category, I am still thankful for her alone, separate from everything else. She is my sister and she is my friend all in one. I missed her for 8 years of my life. I missed out on a large portion of her growing up. I think this makes me realize how precious my relationship with her is. She can be dramatic at times and she can make me frustrated, but I love her more than anything and I try to tell her and show her that as much as I possibly can. I admire her for the things she has gone through and the heart that she has maintained through it all. Ultimately she is beautiful, wonderful, talented, and caring. I consider myself lucky to have her in my life.
My grandma. Once again, she falls under family, but she holds a special place to me. Through all that I went through as a kid and through all the hard times I gave her, she was always the one that has supported me and loved me through any decision that I have made. While our relationship was never perfect, she always had a place for me to call home no matter what happened. She has witnessed and tried to understand my position in nearly every decision I've ever made and was there for me when no one else was. If I could say that anyone represented unconditional love in my life, it would be her.
My friends. Every. single. one. Any time that I've been stressed or had problems and needed to vent, they have been there. Any time that my close friends have had problems, they have come to me. I am thankful to have those relationships. They make me feel loved, cared for, and trusted. I have especially noticed this in this past year. I cannot count how many times I have heard friends of mine tell me "If you ever need anything.." or those friends that text me/call me/IM me just wanting to talk or get advice or even just tell me what they're doing or what's going on in their life. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that I have people like that in my life.
My boyfriend. I cannot even begin to explain how thankful I am for him. I feel blessed simply to have him in my life, even more so to have his love. I know that I am not perfect. I mess up. But he's stuck with me and loved me anyways. Any time I need to talk, he listens. If I need advice, he is there with his honest opinion, no matter how little I might want to hear what he has to say. He loves me enough to tell me the truth no matter what. Not to mention any time he needs to talk or vent about anything, he comes to me. And no matter what is said or done, at the end of the day it's each other we come back to. I cannot explain how lucky I feel to be that person and have that wonderful of a relationship with anyone, even more so, him.
My job. I love it. I really don't know what else to say about it. Sure it's not the best paying job. Sure it has it's flaws. If it didn't, it would be boring. But I am thankful to have gotten with a company where I am interested in learning about the product, most of the customers are incredibly friendly and it's okay, encouraged, in fact, to socialize with them and make them feel welcome and like family. Not to mention everyone in my store is like family. They are more than welcoming and work as a team. Each and every one of them. This is more than I can say about a lot of jobs I have had and I cannot explain how thankful I am to have found a place like this one.
My life. I'm not rich, I'm not spoiled, it's not always easy, and it can be incredibly stressful at times. But each and every time I work through that which is stressful there's always something to be thankful for in the end. Some of it I've done on my own, some of it I could not have done without each and everything above this. I love it. Every day is an adventure.
The world. Without sounding like a tree hugging hippy, I would like to state how thankful I am for the world. This planet. Once you stop and look around for a second, it's so easy to realize how beautiful everything is. Stop thinking about the economy, about the stress of bills, for just one second and look. It's a beautiful place to be. The fresh air around you, the trees, the animals, everything. Anytime I'm stressed and nothing seems to be going right, I just remember how wonderful the world is and I remember that my problems are temporary. The world is still here and wonderful and always is if you can simply push everything else aside for just a second.
