Fantastic Fall or 30 Days of Thankfulness-Day 1

“Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.” ~Robert Caspar Lintner

It seems unreal that it could be November first already.  Seems like I was just blowing my New Year’s noisemaker yesterday.  Sheeesh!

I do love Fall; it is my favorite time of year.  The air is crisp.  The pumpkins are in abundance. My kids start wanting hot chocolate in the mornings. The holidays are around the corner.  I really, really love it.

And since November is the month of Thanksgiving, I am going to attempt something I have never before attempted…the 30 days of Thankfulness blog challenge.

Truly, I am lucky if I can stick with anything for more than a week.  In fact, I am stunned that this blog still exists after 5 years—since my blogging has been sporadic, at best, for the last 3 years. The plan is to blog every day for the entire month of November about gratitude and thankfulness and stuff I am thankful for.

Certainly, we should live each day with a thankful heart.  It can radically change your perspective if you dwell on the blessings in your life and even celebrate those blessings disguised as what appears to be something crappy. I try very hard to look for the silver linings, to see what God is trying to teach me, to look for, what I like to call, “opportunities to grow”.  I don’t always succeed, but I recognize the importance of trying.

So, let’s try to stick to this 30 days of Thankfulness, eh?

• I am thankful for two awesome kids who don’t take themselves too seriously.

Some people might say that kids who are 16 and 13 years old are too old for Trick or Treating.  I say, PSHAW!!  I mean, look at these faces:

Seriously, if they came to your door, you’d want to give them candy, right?  It’s not like they put on a Jason mask with their street clothes and showed up at your door holding open a pillow case bulging with Snickers, M & Ms, and Laffy Taffy  and not even bothering to mumble under their breath an indistinct “trick or treat”! These children actually put some thought into their costumes!  They are not too old to think themselves too cool for Halloween, for dressing up and having a little fun. For my kids, it is not about the candy, it’s about being creative and coming up with a fun costume. And I am thankful for that.

• I am thankful for the fair, funnel cakes and rickety fair rides.
• I am thankful for orthopedic surgeons, plates and screws, healed bones and physical therapy.
• I am thankful for my son and his perseverance.

We love going to the fair each fall. The kids always love it.  This year, we took along one of Emma’s friends.  We find this makes Emma, um, shall we say, less moody. Yeah, that is all I’ll say about that.

I was concerned about her being able to walk around the fair all day, as she is still recovering from her broken leg and subsequent surgery, but she did so great and made up for all the rides she could not ride when we went to Disney back in May. That girl rode some crazy stuff…I think thanks to the peer pressure from her friend. Regardless, she rode stuff and had a blast! What was really cool, was how Jacob handled the whole thing.  Can you say, Sensory Overload? However, he did not wear his earplugs AT ALL for the entire 7 hours we were there. He rode almost every ride that his sister did (even the ones with loud music and a bunch of screamers!).  He navigated through crowds of crazy chaos. And he had a great time! He was nothing short of amazing (as usual). And I am so thankful.

Until tomorrow—Be thankful!