Give Thanks!

While last year at this time I certainly never in my wildest dreams anticipated that I would be spending this holiday season husbandless, it is the season to give thanks, so I think it’s much healthier to count my blessings rather than roll around in self-pity. I’m sure I could make a great case for why this will be the worst Thanksgiving and Christmas ever, but what good is that going to do? None, that’s what. The bottom line is there’s always someone out there who has it worse than you do, so be grateful for what you do have. Here’s what I’m thankful for this year:
*I got to be married to Mike for seven years and learn lots from him.
*Mike didn’t pass away suddenly and unexpectedly, so I had a few months to prepare myself for the inevitable.
*I was approved for the sick-leave bank at work, so I was able to spend every day with Mike that he was in the hospital.
*Mike was very organized, so that helped in getting lots of paperwork junk taken care of this year. (And there has been a gracious plenty of it.)
*I have two wonderful girls.
*I have parents who help me out tremendously with the girls. (Small children are small children. It doesn’t matter how you slice it—they’re a lot of work! If you’ve never had kids, borrow someone’s for a weekend, and you’ll quickly discover what I’m talking about here.)
*My family and friends.
*My faith in knowing that I will get to see Mike again.

This evening Ava set up everything for a tea party at the dining room table. She had four place settings. She told me she set one for Daddy—he was still sick up in the sky, but maybe would feel better and come down. When I tried to explain to her that that wasn’t going to be happening, she told me to “Stop it.” That’s her new thing to say when you tell her something she doesn’t want to hear. Now, when I asked her what she was thankful for, I didn’t even end up on the list. What’s at the top this year? Sausage. And eggs. I don’t even like either one of those things! When I asked her “What about people?” She said she was thankful for her people and started rattling off the names of her play toy people. Good thing I don’t suffer from low self-esteem.

I was fortunate to have Veteran’s Day off from work a couple of weeks ago. The girls and I decided to have a big day together. We started off at Edventure. For those of you who aren’t from around here, it’s a big children’s museum. If you live close by, I highly recommend making the trek for a visit. We went once over the summer; I’m not big on crowds, so I don’t like to go to places like that on weekends when there are a bunch of people there. Particularly when there are a bunch of children present—they can be ruthless, which makes reinforcing manners a bit challenging. We had lunch from the “virtual” McDonald’s on the bottom floor. (Read: you call in the order and they bring it to you from across the street. Do note that if you order a happy meal, you’ll be not so happy to discover that the drink is not included and you end up paying an extra buck fifty for it. Lesson: read the fine print AND ask for an exact interpretation.) I’ve included a some pics of our Edventure adventures at the bottom of this post. There would be more, but somebody forgot to charge the camera battery, so we didn’t get pictures of everything.

After exploring the museum we went to every girl’s favorite place: the mall. The main reason Ava likes to go to the mall is we have a rule that we always get a cookie when we go to the mall. A few months ago Columbiana Centre got sneaky on me. They put about six little rides right at the spot where the cookie store is. I am fortunate that Ava doesn’t care one thing about having to put money into them and actually ride. She’s perfectly content just to sit and play on all of them, but she likes to play on them forever. So now whenever Ava and I go out and about and I ask her where she wants to go, the standard response is, “Let’s go to the mall and get a cookie and ride some rides!” We topped off our day by going to Barnes and Noble. Each of the girls got a book, and Ava loved going in there to play with their train set in the children’s section.

I suspect this is more than enough for you to read…it’s the holidays, and I know everyone is busy! Thank you all for regularly checking the blog for updates to see how we’re doing. I appreciate all of your continued prayers as well…I’m certain that’s why we are doing as well as we are. Now, go count your blessings and be thankful for all that you have!