November 19, 2005

Thanks and Thankfulness

Me and the hubby hop on a plane for sin city tomorrow - we're celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary with the honeymoon we never had.  I've never been to Vegas, so I'm pretty pumped about the trip!

So we'll be gone for most of the week.  I sooo appreciate Raven stepping up to fill in for me (AGAIN!!)...please stop over at her site and trackback, leave comments, send her money.  Okay, at least stop over and say hi or give her some linky love.  She's posted more at my site recently than I have....silly real life getting in the way and all!

While you are at it, please click through and visit my friends who are on my blogrolls.  There isn't a blog on there you'd regret poking around at.  Since I've been remiss at keeping up, the least I can do is send you over their way.  I promise I'll be back to the normal groove soon!

Thanksgiving is coming up, and it has reminded me to think of those things I have to be thankful for and appreciate having as part of my life.

• We're so extraordinarily blessed to have two beautiful, smart and healthy children.  Having them in my life has certainly made life worth living and more!
• I have a great husband.  We've weathered quite a bit in the last 10+ years and I'm so thankful that fate brought us together.  I find it amazing, however, that it took the Internet when we lived in the same apartment complex with the same view from our windows.  It was meant to be!
• We've got a roof over our head, reliable transportation, jobs that keep these things intact and afford us the opportunities to take our vacations, feed our families, maintain a virtual zoo in our home (we've covered the reptile, mammal and feathered kind as of right now), have some level of financial stability as well as any electronic object we can get our hands on, along with watercraft.
• I'm thankful that our living family members are still with us this year and that my mom no longer suffers the pain I remember her having last Thanksgiving.
• I'm thankful that, even without Mom, Dad will be celebrating Christmas this year.  I was truly wondering what was going to happen.  Christmas was a holiday that Mom was fanatical about.  Now if I could just figure out what Dad will be doing with this new lady friend of his....hehehehe
• I'm thankful that I live in a country that I can have all of the aforementioned things and people in my life.  Oh, and that I can talk and write freely about them without wondering who will come and cut off my hands if I'm caught.
• I'm thankful for the brave men and women who are away from their families protecting this country from terrorism and those who want to strip our freedoms from us.  I pray that those who are voicing dissent will gain clarity and support our troops and the reasons they are actively protecting our country. 

Think about those things that you are thankful for.  I can tie virtually everything in my life back to one thing - the freedom we have here to enjoy life fully if we want it.  There are some countries where it is acceptable to abandon a child merely because of their gender.  There are countries in which I would have never held a job because I am a woman.  There are countries in which I would have never seen a computer, let alone share with the world my feelings, my opinions and sometimes crazy pictures and posts.  And there are some that would punish me severely if they knew I was speaking out against something.  I'm so thankful that my children will enjoy the freedoms and joy living here have provided to me.  I can only hope that those who seem to tear down every decision made to protect this country appreciate what they have.  For it is those very things they have that have allowed them to protest and call for a change of strategy as it relates to the war on terror. 

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and Viva Las Vegas!  See you on Friday!