When my bankroll is gettin’ small

I think of when I had none at all

And I fall asleep counting my blessings . . .

#1 – My mother – We may never live within 100 miles of each other again, but luckily she is alive and well and loves to talk on the phone. She lost her mom when she was about my age, and I can’t imagine. How about I don’t try to imagine, and just enjoy her.

#2 – My father – My admiration for my father knows no bounds. For loving my mother my whole life, for helping us with school reports, for making us practice piano when we thought we hated it, for creating magic for 5 kids every Halloween of our childhood, for teaching me that every good thing I have in life is a bonus, not a right – for all this and more I am grateful to him, and love him.

#3 – My siblings – A brings my head out of the clouds (and also, as mentioned previously in this blog, does the dishes), C makes me really think about what I believe, R makes me proud to be a big sister, and C2 makes me want to come home more. I miss them all, but I’m glad we’re all adults and in about five years we’ll all be able to go out and have a drink together. I suppose I would go to big sister hell if I got my baby bro and sis a fake ID, so we’d better wait . . .

#4 – The Professor, my boyfriend – Ambitious, but not avaricious; loving, but independent; makes a point of spending time with me, but doesn’t demand all of my time; funny, but not funny-looking J; this is the man I somehow snagged. Even though I’m grumpy a lot, busy at theatre a lot, sleep through every video we put on tv and hardly ever wash dishes, he loves me. After navigating the minefield of adolescent dating, I have found my lucky star.

#5 – Erin, Jennifer, Betsy, Tracy, Lucy, Kristi, Amanda, ErinB, my sisters, the Whorehouse Hos, and all my girlfriends old and new – The secret to happiness is a bottle of wine, a plate of cheese and crackers, and a roomful of my girls. Put just as much work into your girls as into your boyfriends, and you will be a happy person.

#6 – My job – I complain a lot, and sometimes I think I hate it, but: I am employed, I make more than I probably should given my qualifications, I like my boss, I get on with my coworkers, I have a schedule that allows me to do my nighttime theatre stuff, I have a lot of autonomy, and this job has helped me buy my house and car. It may be a blessing in disguise, but it’s still a blessing.

#7 – Schmitty cat – She’s beautiful, she’s mischievous, she’s a million laughs. I love this cat.