thankful thursday 24
"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them."
Albert Einstein
This post of Thankful Thursday is a special one. St. Patrick’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the mint chocolate milkshakes at McDonald’s; the corned beef, cabbage and red potatoes; and everyone wearing green. I loved it so much that I even spent on St. Patty’s Day in Ireland! That was a hoot. But this St. Patrick’s Day I’m extra thankful and here’s why.
Lance. Lance is my best friend and fun, adventure partner, and I’m so thankful he’s my husband. He’s always orchestrating little surprises for me and taking care of me. He’s so kind and thoughtful. I don’t know what I would do without him. For my birthday he helped Alison, orchestrate one of the best birthday surprises, which was.....
Alison came to the BHams! I couldn’t believe it. Lance told me to be ready for a surprise at 9:40am today. I was ready, but not really. Nothing could prepare me for Alison showing up at our house! I had suspected that Alison would be visiting me, but as Lance’s proposal as an example, no matter how well I guess what the surprise is, I’m always surprised regardless. So there I was and there she was, and I just about wanted to cry. It was such a great surprise. I was so happy to have a visitor! I’ve been wanting for a long time for my immediate family to visit me here in Birmingham. I often drive through our little neighborhood and dream about all the things I could show them about my life here. It’s really amazing to have Alison here. I’m so thankful she was thoughtful enough to visit and surprise me. And I’m so thankful I have a husband to loves to surprise me, too.
This house. With a bunch of cleaning and some sprucing, our house is finally becoming a home. The two rooms we use the most, our bedroom and study, are really starting to come together. Each room is basically set up in a way that suits our lifestyle, and we’ll slowly but surely get some art/pictures on the walls. As for the other rooms in our, they’re showing some progress, too, however at a much slower place. I love coming home to our house. I love that it’s ours, and we’re making it ours. I feel like it’s so Lance, and yet so me. It’s cozy, and I’m so thankful for it.
Serendipity. Last Saturday Lance and I headed to the library, as we often do. Our plan was to spend the afternoon reading and working. While Lance perused the bookshelves, I headed to the Plaza, an area in the library with open seating, couches and a small coffee shop where I was going to situate myself and read. To my surprise, that Saturday was “Purl in the Plaza”, an event the library hosts for knitters to come and hang out. I’d always wanted to go but never made it for one reason or another. That day for some reason, I decided to bring my knitting to the library (which I never do), so it was quite fortuitous that I found myself with my knitting and it was Purl in the Plaza. I parked myself between two older ladies and started to make friends while I knitted alongside them. As we talked, I discovered one of the ladies hosted a knitting group every week. And you know what? She invited me! I inwardly squealed. I always wanted to be part of a knitting group. Yay!
The quote above by Albert Einstein. I remember when I was in college, our residence hall hosted a lot of fun trips. One time they went to the Price is Right to be contestants on the game show, and another time they went to Hearst Castle. Looking back those are two things I’d love to do, but at the time I was too scared to do something like that and do it alone, no matter how much I wanted to. Nowadays those things don’t even phase me. I find myself in a lot of situations now where I don’t know anyone, like that knitting group I’ll go to or Field Trip. Yes, I still get a little nervous doing new things and meeting new people, but not to the degree that I used to years before that it would prevent me from doing things. I’m so thankful that I was able to overcome my “limits” and grow to the person I am today. I’m thankful for the hurdles that I overcame that gave me the confidence I have today. Plus, that quote is super awesome… and it’s from Albert, who is also super awesome!
Last but not least, I’m thankful for another year of life. My birthday is coming up and I’m so grateful for another year lived. My life is really good. I have an amazing family, husband and community of friends/cheerleaders/supporters/encouragers. Lance and I are very stable and together we have a great life here. I really have nothing to complain about and so much to be thankful for.
El Capitan Canyon, Santa Barbara, CA. February 23, 2016 | Hasselblad + Film processed by The Indie Film Lab