Awesome Life

[gratitude28]

Hi TT!!!
Youasked for it and here it is!
Everyone, what is great in your life right now?????????
I live each day, 24 hours at a time, trying to do the best I can to help others and be a good person (can't say I always succeed )
I wake up every morning with my 2 awesome kids and we have breakfast together and talk about what our dreams were the ngiht before, if they were weird, or what we have planned for that day. Sometimes we plan too much and can't fit it in, or sometimes we change our plans (sunny day... we're off to the beach!). My husband is a kind and caring man who supports me, loves me and is proud of me. He is funny (sometimes dorky).
I have THE COOLEST pain-in-the-butt dog in the world...an English bulldog named Henry who makes me laugh so much. We also have a plethora of guppies who multiply at a scary rate. We give them away to anyone who will take them.
My biggest daily fear is that I will run into one of the humongous (I'm not kidding) hairy spiders that get into my house on a consistent basis. We are all terrified of them!
I paint watercolors and draw with pastels and have an art show in August here. I also knit all kinds of cool stuff. I love yarn and patterns, and mixing stitches to see what I can create.
My life is good!!!!!!!!!
How about you all???????
Love, Beth

[mountainspring]

Hi TT... great idea... Beth... great thread  

What's great in my life...

I get to take care of my wonderful 94 year old Grandmother who took care of me about 25 years ago.  I get to learn all the important stuff... like how she puts together her embroidered quilts, how to make the her famous chocolate cake, who the first guy was that she fell in love with, what her parents were like, what life was like when she was young... etc etc. The stuff that really made her who she is.  She's given me her "school days" book with newspaper articles, dance invitations, notes from her buddies, and her Bible, with all the notes she put in it.  And I learn from her fantastic attitude... she'll look at me and say honey, you know I love you, you know I do, but what is your name!    She forgets things and laughs, and she remembers things from long ago... like how her papa was the best painter in town, and how he worked so hard, and when he would come home from work he'd ask her and her sisters to rub his feet, and how they hated to rub his feet because he'd been on them all day and they smelled bad.  Then she'll pause and say what I wouldn't give to rub his feet one more time.  And she talks about her mother and what a great seamstress she was and how much I would have loved her if I'd known her.  How her mother would sew their dresses while she sewed dresses for her dolls and her mother made the best homemade taffy.  And she thinks losing her teeth is funny and calls metamucil her best friend!  And she gets phone calls from her friends in her hometown, people she's known for 40 years, and she'll talk to them and sometimes she knows who they are, and sometimes she doesn't.  And when she doesn't she looks at me and smiles and says that was one of my dear friends, I don't know which one, but I'm so glad she called.  She's weak these days, but has such great humor. A couple weeks ago I took my kids to the strawberry patch to pick strawberries.  I figured I'd put my grandmother in the wheelchair and we'd talk while they were pickin.  She wouldn't hear of it, she picked a handful of strawberries, and went back to her wheelchair and ate them while watching the girls.  When she finished with the first handful, she went back for more.  All the while I'm holding her arm as she's picking saying please don't fall, be careful, you can't fall... please don't fall and she's aw honey you worry to much!

[moonlight52]

Let's remember the beauty and what to be grateful for every day .My faith in God has grown day by day.
I am grateful to understand how to untie the strange knot of my family of origin and drop it and walk by
and then and now what is left of my life is for me and for me to be strong in faith and love of God
and be strong for my family and loved ones.Such is the gift of life.
Moon

[Hops]

My dog's sweet brown eyes and sense of humor, her pleasure in a funny voice.
The trees in the back, how it's like a chapel in the woods. How no matter what's going on in my life, when I step outside and look up, they are swaying, as beautiful in winter as in summer.
My daughter's sleepy cheek when I kiss her goodbye after a visit, and how hard we're trying.
How beautiful the sky has been lately, with clouds changing and moving high across.
My good friend and how she and I have been walking together in her leafy neighborhood, and last night two young deer wandered across in front of us, and a rabbit too.
How good the chocolate was when I finally got under the covers.
How nature itself fills me with hope when my faith isn't working.
How much small things can mean to me, and how I can share simple pleasures with my daughter.
How lucky I am in friends, in church community, and in this forum right here, that gives safety and sense and comfort and surprise and delight and friendship to my days.

Hops

[Sela]

Well what a lovely thread!

I have many, many blessings in my life......my children, husband, pets, a few friends, my home etc.

For me (and this may sound a bit odd).....one of the greatest things about my life now is not crying every day, like I did for over 2 years, sometimes more than once per day.  Now I cry, sometimes, but it's not a daily ritual, and it feels like "normal" crying, not like what seemed --the never ending reaction to major trauma that I experienced, so for me that's a blessing.  Not crying every day!  Yay!!  Laughing a whole lot, instead!!  Yay!!

And for over 4 years......every morning.....the first thing I'd think of was my abusers.  Now, I hardly think of them at all.  For me, that's awesome progress and I am very glad of this change.  It's helping me get on with my life.  I'm sick of wasting it on thinking about them.  I have better stuff to do and I'm doing it. 

Also, the fact that I'm starting to feel like "myself" again.  I'm not sure who I was before.....it was more like I was someone else......some other person who was not like me at all.  But now, more of me is back and that other person is starting to fade into the distance.  Good riddence!!   I didn't like being her and it feels like shedding a skin to step out of where she was and go where I am (if that makes any sense at all  ).  It's just that wonderful feeling of wanting to do things I used to do and being comfortable in my skin (rather than like I was wearing one I just wanted to shake off).......that is so glorious!!  Truly awesome!!

Thanks for this thread, Beth.

  Sela

[mudpuppy]

What's good in my life?

My friends who have stood tall when my own FOO ducked for cover or worse.

My daughter who is very pretty and very good hearted and (though it is a pain now it will serve her well later) very strong willed.

My wife who is nearly perfect. She is so sweet and faithful and patient and (this is becoming more important as I realize just how bizarre most people are) so normal and placid and content. Oh, and she is also the most beautiful gal around. And also because in the face of cancer she is still a rock.

God, who is responsible for every good gift that everyone of us has. As the song says, God is good all the time.

mud

And hay fever season is over (for me anyway).

[Moira]

Greetings All!! Good to be back here after a wee hiatus! Miss you guys! I always love the gratitude topic! I have so much to be grateful for today I barely know where to begin! I'm grateful I'm free of drugs today and took my cake this last week at my women's group. Am grateful for my health, my three cat boys and all the entertainment and love they send me. Grateful for being an honorary grandmother for my partner's three young grandchildren. Grateful for some peace in my life and a brief reprieve from being harassed and stalked by my ex N. Am grateful I don't hate him anymore and can look at him with pity and see that it sucks the big one being him!!! Wow!!! Now that's some serious spiritual growth for yours truly!!!!! Grateful for this forum and all of you guys. Just got back from the gym- started working out two weeks ago for the first time in five years and man, does it feel GREAT!!!!!! Much love- Moira

[pennyplant]

Welcome back, Moira!

Many things to be grateful for: 

great husband (I did call him an enabler on another thread, but he is so good to me and is learning along with me)
two great sons who are happy, have friends, work, fun, are smart and full of energy
a good home in the country
a good job where I'm learning what I'm made of in good ways, helping me to get stronger every day
some real friends
health
all our material needs are met
this board which has made a real difference in my life

Pretty good stuff!  Pennyplant

[Brigid]

Thank you Beth,

I am so grateful for waking up every morning feeling that life is full of possibility and hope. 

I'm grateful that I now have a chance of living the last half of my life cuddled in the arms of someone who truly loves me and who I love with all my heart.

I'm grateful for those 2 beautiful children of mine who never cease to amaze me with their wisdom, wit and kindness.  I'm also grateful for the 4 additional children my b/f has brought into my life, who I already love and adore.

I'm grateful for my wonderful friends who have stood by me through my very darkest days and now rejoice with me in my happiness.

I'm grateful that I can deal with my ex in a calm and rational manner, but never lose sight of the fact that he will always be a liar and a con artist who I will never trust again.

I'm grateful for my beautiful home that welcomes me home every day with beautiful flowers and shrubs that I lovingly attend to.

But I'm most grateful for the pain I endured over the last 3 years, without which I would not know how good it feels to be happy, serene, and madly in love.  Throughout my marriage, I was going through the motions of living day-to-day, believing I was content, and never imagining it could be any better.  At 55, I now live life as a blond with passion, energy, excitement, riding on the back of a Harley-Davidson, and having lots and lots of fun.  Who woulda thought??

Brigid

[lightofheart]

We read this WEB DuBois blessing at our wedding. I say it daily, am grateful for the first beautiful waking minute to hear his words...

Dear Lord, make us mindful of the little things
that grow and blossom in these days
to make the world beautiful for us

Teach us to revere in this world
not simply the great and impressive
but all the minute and myriad-sided beauty of field and flower and tree

And as we worship these, so in our lives let us strive
not for the masterful and spectacular, but for the good and true
not for the thunder, but the still, small voice of duty

Amen

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[gratitude28]

What a sweet song... except for the bourbon (can';t do that anymore )
Love, Beth

[Hopalong]

I forgot about that song...love it!

thanks, TT...

Hops

[Moira]

Hi All! Wonderful ditty! Ditto for the bourbon for me too, though!! And that's something EVERYBODY should be grateful for!!! Hee hee!!! Hugs, Moira