Three Little Thankfuls

It started six years ago with a little writing assignment. We were instructed to write about three little thankfuls. Not the obvious things like family, faith, health or wealth. We were required to think about the little things in life that we're thankful for and share them in our writing assignment. I've enjoyed reflecting on those little things each year and trying to identify a few to share, and I'll do the same this year.

1- This is embarrassing. But this is as real as it gets. This year I'm thankful for the insanely catchy, absolutely ridiculous, make-me-move song of the year... Gangnam Style. Apparently 790 MILLION of us can't get enough of this song according to the views count on You Tube. I've actually wanted to blog about this song for a couple of months but have felt silly every time I consider it. If this doesn't sound overly dramatic I don't know what will, but I honestly give credit to this crazy K-pop song for pulling me out of my depression. When it comes on I can't help but smile. When it comes on my kids and I dance. Every. Single. Time. Nothing else was able to pull me out of the funk I found myself in after leaving Hawaii and trying to find my center in this new home of ours. But when this song plays, I'm genuinely happy. The first time the kids and I heard it on the radio in the car we flipped out we were so excited! We pulled into the driveway, cranked up the car stereo, leapt from the car, and we danced and danced and laughed and danced. Happy memory. Happy song. Definitely one of my three little thankfuls this year. I dare you to watch this ridiculous video and try not to crack a smile.

2. This year I'm thankful to experience seasonal change once again without having to deal with hard-core winter temps and snow. I loved the year round moderate temperatures in Hawaii and the constant and consistent beautiful weather. But I forgot how good it feels to warm your body up in a nice hot shower, or how comforting it is to cuddle in a blanket. I like my new fuzzy socks that help me keep some feeling in my otherwise icy toes. I LOVE the feeling of running outdoors in the chilly air. I'm thankful for seasonal change.

3. I'm not sure if this really counts as "little" because it has felt pretty huge, but I'm really grateful for the way our move played out. I'm thankful that all of the boxes we shipped from Hawaii containing the things most important to us arrived more or less intact and safe. And I'm grateful for my dear Louisianian friend Karen who graciously accepted our mountains of boxes and stored them for us until we had a house to move them into. And I'm really grateful that despite having no furniture whatsoever when we arrived in Louisiana, we quickly had a fully furnished home thanks to the generosity and kindness of people here in our area. We put the word out at church that we'd moved here with basically nothing and we were completely provided for. The generosity was amazing and overwhelming. We have a mix-and-match assortment of furniture to be proud of. We felt the love and we recognize the enormous blessing. I'm so thankful!

What three little things are you thankful for this year?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because I didn't want to repeat things I've shared in the past, I figured I better re-read some of my old writings. It was fun to take a little trip down memory lane. And I figured I may as well link 'em all here for kicks and easy reference next year when I need to be reminded again. Please ignore the weird color formatting on my old blog. I used to change it up a lot...

2006 Part One
2006 Part Two
2006 Part Three
2006 Part Four (I may have gotten a little carried away that first year LOL)
2007
2008
2009
2010 Part One
2010 Part Two
2010 Part Three
2011 (That's the year I got a little over-enthusiastic and went for Thirty Days of Thankful, before doing a month full of "I'm thankful for..." posts was the cool thing to do.)