Happy Thanksgiving

It's the day before Thanksgiving and that means tomorrow officially kicks off the holiday season! (Even though some have already decorated for Christmas - myself included...whoops.) With all the hustle and bustle this time of year can bring, I'm realizing a few very important things.

I want to just hit the pause button on today...
Truly immerse myself in this special time with my family...
Slow down and enjoy the moment...
Savor the memories this magical time of year brings...
Be thankful...truly thankful...for all of the blessings that surround me...

We say all of these things year after year, but do we truly live them out? I'm making it a mission to do just that this year, because these moments can slip by so quickly. This really is a magical time of year and it always seems to go by so very fast.

Thankfulness is another mission I am trying to live out this holiday season. I know this phrase is so overused but it's a very, very true one - we are so blessed and really have SO much to be thankful for.

Do you have a roof over your head? You're blessed. Do you have a mode of transportation? You're blessed. Do you have running water and food to eat? You're blessed.

A couple  of years ago, a church in North Carolina shared a video about thankfulness and it totally put things into perspective for me.

Take a watch and see what you think!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and truly take time to savor the moments as they pass by! Happy Thanksgiving!!

One Year

Today marks one year.

One whole year since you’ve been gone.

You took a piece of your heart with me when you left that day – a piece of my heart I don’t want back.

I miss you more than I ever imagined I would…or even could.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you – your smile, your love…even your temper (although you never stayed mad for long). :0)

I loved the way your eyes lit up when we walked in the room – your love for us ran so deep, you truly enjoyed every moment we spent together.

I still think of you every time I see a bag of Werther's Caramels in the grocery store. Can you believe I still have the last bag you bought for me? I guess a little part of me doesn’t want to let that go.

Growing up, you were always so supportive, never missing a game – even travelling out of town for all-star and summer tournaments. I thank you for that.

The last Christmas we shared together will always make me laugh, especially our group family picture. When I told everyone to do something silly on the count of three, you smiled and said “Ha-heee!” I still remember you sitting there as we played that silly board game, running frantically through the house to collect items listed on a card before the timer ran out. I truly felt the love and warmth of a family that day.

Some days, the ache left in my heart hurts so bad I can hardly breathe. They say it gets better with time, and I know it will – but I’m not there yet.

I saved a voicemail from you on my phone and I still listen to it from time to time – I don’t ever want to forget the sound of your voice.

I’m grateful I can hold on to the fact that I WILL see you again one day. I can’t wait to hug you and hear you call me your punkin once more.

Until we meet again…all my love.

Thankful Thursday

With all that’s been going on in my life this week, I thought it fitting to have a Thankful Thursday blog post today.

I’m thankful for many things everyday but today in particular, I’m especially thankful for my family!

This week has really showed me that family support is a huge deal – much bigger than I thought.

My grandfather made it through surgery without any difficulty. My mind became more at ease when the nurse anesthetist informed me they weren’t going to put him completely under – their technique was to give him a little versed to make him sleep/forget and do a local block on his foot! They did the block while I was standing in the holding room and uhhh…yeah…I was reminded as to why I almost passed out during my OB rotation from watching an epidural. When/if we have kids, I’m not too sure about that thing. The needle is freaking huge!

Anyway, my grandfather was worried right before the surgery – I could see it all over his face, but he continued laughing and joking with us and his caretakers. I was surprised to see him in his room a short time after surgery, sitting up and joking again! He’s a trooper, that’s for sure!

His toe was removed, so now the healing process begins. I appreciate your prayers more than you know! Thank you SO much for everyone who prayed, facebooked, tweeted, texted, etc to check on him. To feel so much support from an online community is amazing! Y’all rock, seriously.

Here’s just a few things he’s made me laugh about this week:

• He has flirted with every since lady nurse that has walked into his room. He says if you get on their good side, they are nicer to you (which is something I’ve definitely seen to be true). When asked by my brother why he didn’t give out his phone number, he responded, “I don’t want them to get too attached!” Hah!
• Going along with the flirting thing, he’s asked every nurse that comes into his room if they are married. His Internal Medicine Doctor is not married and my grandfather rags him about it every time he has an appointment (they’ve known each other for at least 10 years). Yesterday, my grandfather tried to play matchmaker between the floor nurse and his internist. Hilarious!
• Apparently, the internist’s nurse is my grandfather’s “girlfriend”. He asked about her so much at the beginning of the week, she finally came to see him yesterday – she even brought him a get well gift and prayed with him! It was awesome. She called to check on him today, too. He absolutely loves the attention. He’s eating it up!
• Prior to his angiogram on Monday, they took away his water after breakfast. He knew he shouldn’t take a swig of the Diet Dr. Pepper on his side tray, but he was thirsty – legit excuse, right? He told us this AFTER the angiogram, of course. With my mouth hanging open, he responded, “Well, no one caught me! And I’m still alive, aren’t I?” We all lost it after that! How could I argue?
• After the angiogram, he got so mad at me that I wouldn’t raise his head. You’re supposed to lay as flat as possible for four hours after the procedure…to him, lie flat meant “on his back”. Apparently my dad was giving him a hard time about laying flat before I got there, too. My grandfather informed me that he was going to tell my dad to spank me because I wouldn’t lift his head up “just two inches”. He’s a mess.

Not to single one side of my family out, here’s the other half….Jason’s family! :0)

About that joking thing…. Hmm…I wonder where he gets that from? We aren’t a bunch of goofballs or anything! :0)

What are you thankful for today?