Gratitude

One of my oldest and dearest friends has started a blog.  She lives in Hawaii and you'd think WOW!  There's the life!  However, she's a military wife.  Her husband goes out on fast moving nuke subs at a moments notice.  Sometimes he is gone for months at a time and she is home by herself.  This year they just welcomed their first child into their home and she does the work for both parents while he serves.

As I mentioned, she recently started a blog.  She has taken on the task of writing down what she's grateful for each day for an entire year.  On her post today, she asked what the rest of us were grateful for.  While I have no plans to blog every day about my gratitude, I will share a few things I'm grateful for today.

First, I am grateful for my dear, dear friends, the D-Tats.  It sounds incredibly immature and childish to say we have a name for our circle of friends, but it came about quite accidently and just kind of stuck as a joke.  We tried to read "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" for a book club selection.  Suffice it to say, it was not what we had hoped and after two of us spoke up and said "WOW!  Don't keep going!" we decided to scrap it.  Little did we know how that book would bond us together and provide us with the nickname D-Tats.  These are the women that will be joining me for the 1/2 marathon in May.  There are just times in your life where you need certain types of people and they are who I need right now.  Amazing women with amazing talents.  They can be my Rascal buddies anytime. ;)

Next, I am grateful to be learning how to be patient.  I have never been a patient person- just ask anyone who knows me.  However, in learning how to run, in learning how to better handle stress, in learning how to handle a favorite friend's addictions, I'm learning how faith in the Lord brings peace and calm and the patience you need to move forward.

Finally, some small things I'm grateful for:  silly answers my students give on tests like "fat provides your body with extra skin to store food with"; 10 calorie Dr. Pepper (thank you!); my fridge being fixed so the noise has stopped; my hot beanie full of beans every night I go to sleep; and sweater weather.