Thankfuls

I have a nasty habit of being glass half empty. 

I have a hard time seeing the postive side of things and it gets much worse after daylight savings time in the fall when it gets dark approximatley 12 seconds after the sun rises.  It gets particularly bad when I'm missing my family (I haven't been home since September - that is just too long!) and sometimes Uriah bears the brunt of my sad cat face. 

Today, however, I tried really hard to fight the urge to be Polly PissyPants.  I got up early and made a big pot of coffee and a pumpkin pie.  I resisted the urge to procrastinate when we were trying to get out the door on time.  I tried not to snap when Uriah didn't have a salad to take to dinner (even though I'd reminded him yesterday).  I bit my tongue when Abby decided to wear jeans and a top and a slip (you know, the thing you wear under a dress?  Yes, she had that on under her clothes because she couldn't find a tank top.  WTF?).  And, when I felt really homesick, instead of dwelling on that feeling I tried to think of the things that I'm most thankful for. 

Today I am most thankful for:

• Uriah.  Every day of the week and twice on Tuesday.
• Finn and Abby.
• My Minnesota and my Missouri families and friends.
• We are all healthy.  And also for flu shots.
• Having a job - and Uriah having a job, too. 
• Being able to feed and clothe my kiddos.  And myself.  And also, Uriah.  Because we'd make a really unhappy family if we were hungry and nudie-patootie! 
• Having a house (with heat and running water and electricity and my bed).
• Hospitals and health insurance and blissful epidurals.  Oh, how I am thankful for epidurals this year!
• 1 whole year of wedded bliss.  And for the ability to be common-law divorced a couple of times a week when things aren't so blissful.
• A good daycare with people who love on my son daily when I can't.
• Vacation to Minnesota next month.  And Santa.  But mostly vacation.

It's not much of  a list, I realize that, and it's in no particular order - except for Uriah and Finn and Abby being at the top - and probably the part about the epidural should be closer to the top, too.  I know that I have so much more to be thankful for, but for tonight, this is enough.  And tomorrow or the day after or the day after that, when I feel those blues creeping in, I will look at this list and remind myself just how good I have it in my own little corner of the world.