NOVEMBER 3: I AM GRATEFUL FOR OUR HEALTH. I feel very little in this world gets taken for granted so often as health. It is one of our biggest blessings, biggest abuses, and most important things we have, and yet for so many, so little thought gets paid attention to it, myself included. I am so grateful that none of us have any major health concerns. The girls are healthy and growing strong, smart and right on track and for that I am most grateful for- our three healthy girls. The icing on the cake is that both Louis and I are in pretty good health as well, so we are very grateful for that too of course! :)
NOVEMBER 4: I AM GRATEFUL FOR LOUIS' JOB. Not a single day goes by that I'm not grateful for the security and consistency of Louis' job. He is able to provide a nice living for our family and allow me to stay home and focus more on the homemaking side of things. This works well for our family and his job allows this. However, he works hard and dedicates many hours to the company- earning every single thing! But, he is compensated well, and he gets a plethora of added benefits- great insurance for our entire family- medical, dental and vision, almost 4 weeks of PTO every year, the perk of being able to work from home any time he wants, yearly bonuses and raises, plus a couple of really cool company parties every year.
NOVEMBER 5: I AM GRATEFUL FOR OUR HOUSE. Every time I really start thinking about the reality that in potentially EIGHT WEEKS we could be living in our own, brand new house, that I was allowed to choose all my upgrades and build my dream home if you will, I get giddy. Literally. My heart rate increases, I start to talk fast (-er than I already do), pace around and get so damn excited! Honestly, I am most grateful to just be able to be purchasing our own home. After renting for what has seemed like an eternity, it is going to be sooooo nice to be able to join the homeowners club again. There is something to be said for the pride of taking care of your own home- mowing your own lawn, scrubbing your own walls. I've always kept a pretty neat house, but when you rent, thats about as far as it goes...keeping it clean. I might throw some flowers in a pot out front, but there is no real pride in owning that and wanting to be one of the nicest houses on the block. Especially now that I'm afforded the opportunity to be at home more, I really have plans to keep that puppy so nice....so clean....so fresh...
NOVEMBER 6: I AM GRATEFUL FOR HEATHER AND JASON. No one gets married and has kids with the intention of getting divorced one day, but it happens. So often when it happens it turns ugly. After the fall out of the divorce and the unspeakable atrocities you are convinced the other party has committed against you, the bitterness lives. The resentment. The anger......BUT, not always, and I am grateful that in our world, nothing but the opposite could be more true. I am so grateful that all of us are able to be not only civil and cordial to each other for the sake of the children, but honestly, we are all down right friendly. We all work together to put any personal, adult differences aside and really work hard with the village mentality to raise these three girls. It's awesome and I am very grateful for that.
NOVEMBER 7: I AM GRATEFUL FOR MAZZY. I love my dog. That's it. She is my puppy child and brings so much joy and happiness to me. She makes me laugh, comforts me when I'm sad, and is just my best friend.
NOVEMBER 8: I AM GRATEFUL FOR EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP ANXIETY FREE. So, I will let you all in on a little secret....for about the past 6-7 months I've been struggling with anxiety. It started last April with me waking up periodically in the middle of the night in a panic- afraid I'd missed my alarm and was late for work or missing things, and then I wouldn't know what the date was, because when you don't work, sometimes you can lose track of that kind of thing, and it would take me like 2-3 minutes to remind myself that I literally had nothing going on- I didn't miss anything, etc. I'd be able to calm down and go right back to sleep. It became increasingly more frequent, and after a little while of this going on, my stomach became increasingly more aggravated- constantly upset, etc. Soon, looking for a plausible explanation as to why I was experiencing this, I transferred all this anxiety and physical manifestation of symptoms on to driving. Not just general driving however, I was slowly becoming more and more afraid of driving the girls to school in the morning. THAT was what my huge fear and anxiety trigger became. I was fine picking them from school, driving to the mall, driving to my moms house...whatever, but for me to have to get in the car to drive them to school literally became a debilitating event. For about 3 weeks it became so bad that I was literally unable to drive them to school. I was becoming so physically ill, vomiting 3-4 times before getting in the car, going into full blown panic attacks, it was getting uncontrollable. LUCKILY, through concentrated exercise every morning as well as the power of guided meditation, I have been able to really manage this. I'm not going to say it has gone away completely, but IF I wake up anxious, it's maybe a 1-2 out of ten and I am able to gain control of it quickly and efficiently and move on with my day. I have never really struggled with this before and had no clue honestly how much it could affect your life. I am grateful that I have such amazing love and support from my husband and kiddos and that I am learning coping techniques to get me through while I am retraining my brain.
