<p>I am so very thankful for my husband who has been my rock for 22 years. I am so thankful that although he had a terrible accident Saturday, it was not worse than it was. I am so thankful that his attitude is that we are blessed and that this experience will only strengthen our family. I am so thankful that my sons think their dad is the most incredible man, because I do too. And, I am so thankful that he loves me, because he has made me the luckiest woman in the world.</p>
<p>I could go on and on with this topic…but I’ll try to only hit the high points.</p>
<p>I am VERY thankful that I was blessed with perhaps the two greatest parents alive who I needed as I grew up and who I now appreciate as an adult. </p>
<p>I am thankful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had in life whether they were academic or social.</p>
<p>I am thankful that I am healthy.</p>
<p>I am thankful that I have a circle of people who I can trust and rely on no matter what I need.</p>
<p>I am thankful that I am able to work at a job that I love with people whom I respect. </p>
<p>I’m thankful that after the years of self-doubt and insecurity that define being a teenage and early twenty-something girl I am finally able to accept and appreciate myself.</p>
<p>I wanted to keep this thread going
I hope no body minds
I am thankful that our neighborhood is getting some families- especially when I read that of major cities Seattle has only slightly more families than San Francisco- It is fun to see young families move in- I think a mix of ages and income levels is necessary for a community- and it is a change to not be the young ones on the block anymore
I am also grateful that our dog has a friend up the street where we can do exchange dog sitting- making it much easier to get out of town with out her. ( not that we usually do)
and the weather today is gorgeous and for a Friday!</p>
<p>I am thankful that I could breastfeed my kids, despite a rocky start. You might think I’m kidding - how could that be the one thing I am most thankful for? Just trust me, it is.</p>
<p>oh I did appreciate that too- even though it went on a tad longer than I planned- for both of them- it went on so long that it wasn’t even for nourishment-
But since I didn’t really get to nurse D until she was 4 months old- I was loathe to give up the simplicity of nursing, for mixing bottles/sterilizing/bottles…
we also had a wonderful resource in the Birth and life bookstore- staffed by Lynn Moen , who had a great selection of parenting books for someone who was trying to do it completely different than how they were raised.
Thanks for reminding me- it isnt’ in existance anymore- as a physical site anyway- but it was such a great place 
</p>
<p>Alu, I completely understand as it is also one of my most thankful items.</p>
<p>I can think of no equivalently intense experience of love and connection (bathed in hormones) that I have ever felt. While that whole sleep deprived time is a general blur, I have vivid, specific memories of babies’ milky grins at 3 am that bring tears to my eyes to this day.</p>
<p>I wanted to get this thread going again
Since turkey day is coming up and many of us will be seeing friends and relatives that we haven’t seen for a while-
I am excited about seeing our D1- haven’t seen her since we took her to school in August-
Have to be casual though- her sister is having most of her time spoken for- & she is going back on Saturday- cause she needs more time to transition back to school.
So I am thankful that both my Ds are growing up into young women- who take reasonably good care of themselves- not just wearing galoshes & head scarves( ha!)- but emotionally- not being drawn to people who are bad news - but people who love and support them- and finding things that give them energy.
I learn a lot from them.</p>
<p>( I am also thankful that I don’t have to travel-can spend more time visiting)</p>
<p>I’m thankful for my mom, the only surviving close relative on both sides of our family now.</p>
<p>I’m thankful for my husband, who’s survived a lot of ups and downs, and who like the Velveteen Rabbit has lots of stuffing hanging out of his seams…but is well loved.</p>
<p>I’m thankful for my son, who is and always will be the light of my life. He’s the child I thought I’d never hold, and the child I know I’ll let go of, but never lose. He’s got a wonderful easy way about him…definitely didn’t get that from me. I love his big, beautiful blue-gray eyes, his shy innocent smile, his exhuberance, his warmth, his social conscience, his noble self. He is the idealism of youth.</p>
<p>I am thankful for all the wonderful memories of the dear people who are no longer with me. Though I feel their loss deeply, each time I think of them, my heart glows with the warmth of love.</p>
<p>I am thankful for all the experiences I have had in my life – good and bad – for they have made me who I am…and they have made me a better parent.</p>
<p>I am thankful for things that soothe my soul: smooth jazz (especially saxophone), classical music (especially violin), The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Stevie Ray Vaughn, “It’s My Life” (Bon Jovi), Green Day, “Satin Doll” (Count Basie), “The Last Dance” (Floyd Cramer), “Last Dance with Mary Jane” (Tom Petty & the Heart Breakers), “Our Town”, Gigi, Gigot, 50 First Dates, Shallow Hal, Gandhi, It’s a Wonderful Life, Yellow Rolls Royce, Christmas, fireworks, opera, ballet, symphonies, great literature, a roaring fire, a piping hot cup of cocoa with a peppermint stick taken while snuggled up in a cozy club chair alongside a window with a view shared with someone special…</p>
<p>…oh, and how could I ever forget our dear dog, a black lab mix we adopted from the last cube…soon to have been euthanized…too special to have met that fate…cherished deeply by everyone chez nous. Whattadog! She rules us with love and those sweet puppy eyes. What a sweet girl.</p>
<p>And lest we forget…we love all our little angel animals…Kippy, Muffin, Paladin, Rusty, Squiggy, and another dear one (my husband’s when he was a boy…whose name escapes me now…senior moment).</p>
<p>Oh, how life is special… [sounds like a line spoken by the Stage Manager out of Our Town, doesn’t it?]</p>
<p>Can never express enough thanks for having a wonderful wife, two tremendous kids, great family and friends. So fortunate too, to have our health.</p>
<p>I greatly appreciate living in beautiful Southern California (I think it’s about 80 today). I’m particularly thrilled at present that our 14 year old golden retriever is still hangin’ in there.</p>
<p>Gotta appreciate that my alma mater, The University of Southern California is the #1 football team in the land-Go Trojans…</p>
<p>and am always thankful for the great fortune of living in this country.</p>
<p>Gotta also appreciate the opportunity to share and sometimes “joust” with the good folks on this site.</p>
<p>Best wishes to all for a happy Turkey day!</p>
<p>I am thankful for my grandmother. she just turned 80 and is still as healthy as can be. She is the most loving,genourus person I have ever met in my life. She will do anything for anyone . Though she is 80 she is 20 at heart and that keeps us all going. That she overame her hardships under Castros Cuba and came to America to make a better life for herself and her daughters.
I am thankful for my mother, who pushes me to be the best I can be and always looks out for me. She has ahd to deal with so much pain in her life and still does btu she puts on a smile every day for me.
I am thankful for my father whose sense of humor and jokes make even the worst days seem better
I am thankful for my friends, both new and old who have added to my life in their own special ways.
I am thankful for my dog Sheena who is an amazing dog and is doing great thru her 3 surgeries and her battle with glucoma., and all the 10 cats I’ve had throughout the years.
I am thankful for my therpaist who for the past three years every since I came out of the hospital has pushed me to be a better person and truley cares.</p>
<p>I am thankful that I survived after being born 4 months early. I am thankful that in 1989 docters did surgery on my eyes that was new and they werent sure if it would work so I would not go blind.</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>It’s time!</p>
<p>I am thankful that DS is home and, after 3 months in college, has come back just that little bit more appreciative and, omg, even a <em>bit</em> talkative.</p>
<p>I am thankful that he has found his HS friendship group intact and happy to while away the hours with each other.</p>
<p>I am thankful that I don’t <em>mind</em> that almost every person at our Thanksgiving table seems to require a different flavor of pie. Four baked, two to go.</p>
<p>I am thankful to have close extended family nearby, whom we truly enjoy, to spend the day with. I know others enter the day with some measure of trial and tribulation.</p>
<p>I’m grateful for the 1.5 million men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who have volunteered to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, our freedoms, and their fellow citizens. Without them, few of the other things we are thankful for on this message board would exist. And we should give special thanks to all those - in Iraq and previous wars - who have made the ultimate sacrifice. And let us give thanks to those who have been wounded and maimed for us. Let us honor their sacrifice.</p>
<p>And I give thanks to the many men and women in our communities who volunteer and lead scout troops, youth organizations, sporting teams, prayer and religious groups, etc. They are the true backbone of this country.</p>
<p>I’m crying my eyes out here reading the responses. I have so many things to be thankful for. #1 is that my daughter is getting the help she needs at the right program and did not choose to leave today on her 18th Birthday and that she’s alive and doing the best she can and sounded happy when we talked to her tonight - where there is life, there is hope. #2 I have a son who brings me joy everyday and will still give me a hug and a peck in front of his friends. #3 but should be #1 I met my husband after being a single mom for 12 years. He took on the challenge of raising teens with gusto! After having no kids of his own he treats mine emotionally and financially as his own. He is an excellent role model for my kids and a wonderful, loving support to me during a difficult time soon after our marriage in 6/03 which a lot of new marriages would be hard pressed to endure - he thinks of my kids as his own. I’m also thankful for my Grandmother who raised me and was my best friend. This month is the 10th anniversary of her sudden death and although I think of her and miss her every day, I value the time we had together and hopefully we will meet again. Okay, I’m crying again but in a happy, thankful way…</p>
<p>I am truly thankful for my life. Happy to be here with my wife and daughter. I feel pretty good . I am more than satisfied and I want for nothing. I’ve had two lifetimes of fun, and Hell, I remember 70-75% of it ;). </p>
<p>I don’t need a darn thing that a wheelbarrow of money can buy, but I will take a little extra time if that can be worked out. Other than that I’m “finestkind”, y’all. LOL. Happy Thanksgiving from Elm Creek Ranch to everyone everywhere. </p>
<p>P.S. Pray for rain, we’re mighty dry.</p>
<p>In addition to the blessings of my husband, sons, good health, and relative prosperity, I am thankful that, despite her severe disabilities and debilitation, my mother survived her series of strokes 16 years ago and got to silently watch her grandsons grow up. This year, I am particularly thankful that my friend D is doing so well in her fight against leukemia, and my friend T appears to have risen above his throat cancer.</p>
<p>I am thankful for the love of the arts & letters & the associated rich educational opportunities passed down to me by my parents.
I am thankful for my long, affectionate, trusting relationship with my father, which has sustained & comforted me even beyond his death.
I am thankful for my mother’s intellectual brilliance and talent & the world of wonder she opened to us.
I am thankful for having had the opportunity to travel as a very young child while my father was in military service; it has given me an international focus “forever.”
I am thankful for living in a relatively free country, filled with economic & intellectual opportunity.
I am thankful for the work of our Founding Fathers in forging a nation that was governable but free.
I am thankful for the first settlers & later immigrants who risked so much & left so much to build a country which benefited those who followed them.
I am thankful that I knew a childhood where one could walk alone to school without fear, could play in neighborhoods with a sense of total safety & protectedness, & could enjoy “do-nothing” summers of reflection & creativity.
I am thankful for eyesight & hearing & speech, to partake of visual & auditory beauty, & to be comforted by faces & voices.
I am thankful & awed beyond expression for the classical composers & visual artists who bled with their hearts for their artistry & whose legacy gifts me daily. I am especially thankful for those of them who persisted in their art through depression, despair, & rejection.
I am thankful for my students & the opportunity to help them imagine their possibilities.
I am thankful for the gift of motherhood & all the rites of passage of the birthing experience. (Yes, I understand Alumother!)
I am thankful for two very different daughters – one whose high standards for herself leave her yet without a conceited bone in her body, another who teaches me to love even when it hurts.</p>
<p>I am thankful for my health, for the opportunity to teach in a brand new, exciting school. </p>
<p>I am thankful that my daughter attends a high school with a principal and staff that care most about what matters most. Kids and their education.</p>
<p>I am thankful for my wife who loves me, tolerates me, and shares my passion for college football and hoops.</p>
<p>I’m thankful for so many things … my family, friends, good health, happiness, a comfortable place to live, a nice job, food on the table, etc. I often tell my husband and friends how fortunate we are to have happy, healthy children who give us nothing but joy. I am thanful for finding this site and for all the folks here who share their knowledge of the college process, etc. Happy Thanksgiving, all!</p>
<p>i’m thankful for the internet… in all seriousness, i could not live without this… and the usual family, house, semi-happiness, getting into rutgers (having someone <em>want</em> me)</p>