Thanksgiving

I may be off by a few days, but here goes anyways. I have an amazing life right now and am so very grateful for every second that I'm here to thoroughly savor it. My children are delicious, I soak them up with all my senses and expand as a person exponentially every time they show me how deep the human capacity for love really is. My family is very much at my side, and whether they know it or not, I gather so much strength from them. I'm still in love with my husband of almost 10 years. We share a bond forged by love and hardship, unbreakable, unwavering. My friends have already shown me that they'll go to the ends of the earth for me and my family. Sometimes that's where I've been, and they've been able to bring me back. I'm sitting in a room surrounded by the clutter of happiness. There are family pictures in manila folders, art work from the girls piled up, a thick candle that's lost almost all it's wax, stuffed animals galore, Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, marathon medals, pine cones from long ago hikes, and an almost deflated yellow balloon from Maddy's 3rd birthday. Somehow these things never found the perfect place, somehow they describe the lives of a happy family in the midst of a storm. I am thankful for this shelter, this respite, this moment.