Heading Up The List

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Originally uploaded by The Rocking Pony

At this time of year, I realize how very much I have to be thankful for. I'm thankful for everything all year long, really, but when people make me sit down and list everything that I'm thankful for, there's just not enough paper for that kind of writing.

I am not the materialistic type. At all. I have come to realize that things are simply that. Things. Things come and things go, and while I love some things more than others, all things can be replaced. My leather sofa ranks among things that I love. It kinda hurt when a dog ate a hole in it that couldn't be repaired. (WHYYYYYY????!!!!!) But it can be replaced. It hasn't yet, mostly because it costs an obscene amount of money and I'd rather have a sofa with a blanket thrown over the back than a drained bank account, but it can be replaced. The coffee table we bought in March had a hole punched into the top in April. We have kids, therefore we'll never have nice things.

Things that aren't material, however, are my most cherished possessions. Things like health. One cannot replace good health, nor can one even buy it to begin with. You either have it or you don't, and I'm so incredibly grateful for our good health. Sure, Micah has Downs. And we recently found out that he has seizures. But really, the kid is healthy. Incredibly so, for someone with Downs. We're blessed.

And my kids, of course, are at the top of the list of things I'm thankful for. I cannot put into words how thankful I am for those kids. All of them. I am convinced that we have some of the best kids in the world. And I'm not tooting my own parenting horn here, because if there is one thing I've learned, it's that you can raise a kid right, but they will make their own choices. Some of those choices will be the polar opposite of what you taught them is right. And sometimes it's not just the little things either. But even when the big, huge mistakes occur, or the daily small ones happen that make your head explode by 8AM, the kids are good. They are very, very good. And for them, I'm grateful. Every single day.