Giving Thanks

On this lovely, warm, twinkling Thanksgiving morning, surrounded by family, hot coffee in hand, warm fire aglow in the corner, I am thankful for all of my many blessings.  Attorney at Large wrote a lovely post about being grateful for even those things that don’t feel like blessings, and I thought that it would be a meaningful exercise.

1. I am thankful for the recession, and the ways it has affected my family.  I don’t want fear or excessive caution to keep us from relaxing into our next phase of life, but I will appreciate what a recession has taught us: about what we really “need” to get by (and how little that is), about frugality and self denial, and about soldiering on when things look hopeless.

2. I am thankful for all of the extra weight I am carrying.  It keeps me motivated to run daily (well, every other day), which is bringing all kinds of health benefits for my heart, cholesterol, bones, and everything else.

3.  I am thankful for Rush Limbaugh.  Oh man, no I’m not.  But I suppose I’m thankful for the state of politics today – because partisan relations have finally reached a breaking point, and the resulting evident detriment to the American population means that meaningful reform has a greater chance to succeed.  There is great opportunity right now, a leadership vacuum, and it is possible that a visionary will step up and fill it.

4. I am grateful for Jack’s speech problems.  Dealing with them has forced me to be a more active and aware parent than I would otherwise be.  I was relaxing too much, but now by necessity I am more fully experiencing my child’s life and exploring his mind, and finding that I like what I see.

5. I am grateful for this third year of law school.  Even though I could be working and earning already, and I wish we had that money coming in, I know that my job will be very time consuming.  This essentially pointless year allows me to turn my focus to my children, and enjoy my last few months of a relatively easy schedule, before life gets hectic.