Thankful

Yesterday I didn't write because I slept most of the day. In fact, I pretty much slept from the time I wrote my post Monday afternoon until noon yesterday. Then I took a shower and got dressed, took a nap, went to a silly preschool conference, Target, and checked on Aggie (my horse) and back home to put the kids to bed and sleep some more.

I ended up with what whatever viral/flu-ish crud E has (Ella has it too) so it wasn't completely blissful, but for the most part I enjoyed being able to sleep. I also started a trashy non-textbook, but only read a chapter or two, and I knitted a little bit.

I'll be honest. I am completely thankful that I took a break from school. I am exhausted and I do need this. I just needed some sleep to really realize it. Now my biggest problem is deciding what to do with my free-time. Sleep, knit, quilt, games or crafts or other with the kids, make Christmas presents, decorate for Christmas, or oh wait, I'm supposed to be relaxing...

Today I was home alone with the kids (this is significant because I have restrictions such as no lifting my kids, etc...). I knitted and read, made Turkey crafts with the kids, read a bunch of Curious George and other books, watched some tv, and took it as easy as I could....but...There is always a but, isn't there? I forgot to take pain meds all day. Geoff came home to find me curled in a ball crying. We decided this was an appropriate circumstance to upgrade to Vicodin and I curled up with my beloved heating pad. An hour later and all was well again. (I am VERY thankful for pain meds!)

This evening we received a phone call that made my day seem inconsequential. Geoff's parents called to let us know that family that was visiting Geoff's grandparents in Australia had just flew home to the US a week early. Apparently a loved one not related to us wasn't feeling well and tests revealed end stage lung cancer. Neither of us have ever met this person, but this news had Geoff and I crying.

We decided to take the kids for a ride to get them to sleep so we could talk about how we hurt for the family members we do know and the family members we don't know. We hurt for the similarities to our own journey and our own "what if" fears. Most of all, we needed to talk about how much we are thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!