Hesitant, Hopeful

No time for a long Thanksgiving post today, like I had planned, but I wanted to extend a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends. I hope you have a happy and safe holiday, and that you're spending it with family and friends. Matt and I are going to Waco today to spend the holiday with our dear friends Amanda & Karen. Matt always looks forward to their cooking -- and he can't stop talking about the spicy ranch crackers they make!! Most of all, we're grateful to be spending the holiday with our loved ones, even when we can't be with family.

This year, I'm thankful for so much, but most of all for family. Having lost my grandmother this year, I go forward with a renewed sense of love for my family. I appreciate my parents, sister Candi, and my husband more than I can ever say and I thank them for being the most amazing part of my life. I'm thankful that this year, unlike the 10 that came before it, I saw my family a lot, but am sad that the circumstances couldn't be better. I'm thankful to have reconnected with family and friends I'd lost contact with. I'm thankful for a wonderful grandmother who always loved and cherished us and for the time I got to spend with her before she left this world. I'm thankful for wonderful friends, for all the lovely and thoughtful thanksgiving invitations (Melanie, Phoena, Amanda & Karen, Aunt Sue), and for some of the most awesome co-workers a girl could ask for. I'm thankful for my education, my health, and the little moments I can manage to steal away for quiet meditation and reminiscence. Finally, I'm thankful for the most amazing wintery weather this Thanksgiving holiday, for an exciting football season, for the spurts of creativity that give me hope for the future, and for my babies Anakin and Galileo.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, may yours be amazing!