Gratitude

A lot has been changing for me lately and I will be free to say more about that in the next few weeks. For now, I just want to share in the vaguest possible way how grateful I am for those around me. I’ve been feeling some strain because I haven’t been able to share on this blog some of the emotions whirling around inside my head. Gratitude, however, is not one I need to keep contained. 

I’m grateful for my family. Moving home after college could have been a really hard decision. I have never regretted it. My parents and siblings are incredibly supportive and kind. They put up with a lot from me and are fun to be around. Seriously, I have a wonderful family. I’m grateful for this time with them. I’m grateful for my extended family too. I have the best aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. It has been so nice to be near them, even if I do not see them all the time. 

I’m grateful for my friends: both the new ones and the old ones. I never expected to find such community in my small home town. I’m grateful for continued friendships from college and high school. I’ve got to travel and visit and bond over the past two years with some really awesome people. 

Though full of ups and downs, life is good. God is good. I’m grateful for where I am at. 

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Manual Transmissions

Today my brother decided to teach our sister how to drive stick. I got to tag along. Since no one in my family believes I’m capable of it, I haven’t learned stick yet. I drive more than anyone in my family and have never gotten a ticket but they still disparage my driving. Rude. 

However, tagging along was fun and Sam even let me get behind the wheel for a few minutes. It was not nearly as challenging as everyone said. I’m definitely going to make him teach me now. 

DEBT FREE!!

In August of 2015, I made my first student loan payment. Today I made my last. I AM DEBT FREE! 

I want to say a quick thank you to my parents for letting me move back home so I could save on rent, my sisters who have had to share a room with me, and the financial adviser who pissed me off by telling me I couldn’t possibly pay off the remainder of my loans in a year. You, sir, were a jerk, but thanks for the motivation. 

In all seriousness, though, I could not have paid these loans off as fast as I did without the support of my family. Thank you all for your help and sacrifice. ❤ 

Wisdom Teeth Day 3

Yesterday was rough and this morning was awful but I finally have the right pain meds working and I am doing better at the moment. Turns out, I do not handle pain well! My family has been really awesome for putting up with me. I’ve binge watched Arrow, started Flash, completed Dramaworld, and am now trying to figure out how to re-download DramaFever onto the Roku so I can watch some more Korean dramas. I planned on reading more but the TV has done a better job at distracting my numbed mind. 

Let It Snowww

Annddddd winter is officially here. I mean, it has been here, but it is snowing so hard now that you don’t leave your house unless you absolutely have to. The blizzard is supposed to last 48 hours. Even though I am an extrovert, I like snow storms. It is a terrific excuse for not going outside or being social or, y’know, seeing people outside of your family. In some houses that might be a problem, but my family gets along pretty well. That and we just got Netflix, so we’ve found a common cause. We’ll be here until Spring.

Siblings <3

Although Siblings Day is long past, busy schedules prevented my siblings and I from meeting up until today. I was pretty stressed about it. I had a headache all afternoon and felt like I wasn’t prepared to leave the office yet. I forced myself to leave work, mentally fretting about everything left undone. 

It was totally worth it. I am so glad I had this evening with my siblings. I needed a chance to laugh and play and not be stressed. We exchanged gifts and swapped stories; it was really fun and encouraging. Siblings are the best kind of friends. No matter how different we may be, our shared memories, personalities, and interests always bring us back together! 

Sibling’s Day!

Many years ago, my 4 siblings and I came to a hard realization: there were no holidays between August and Christmas. (Apparently we forgot about Thanksgiving and my Mom’s birthday…but neither of those events involved us getting presents, so it is excusable.) To remedy this, we decided to celebrate a Sibling’s Day on October 10th and give presents to one another. 

Now, Sibling’s Day is an actual holiday on April 10th, but we didn’t know it at the time and I don’t think it would have altered our purpose any if we had. We needed something to celebrate between Elijah’s birthday and Christmas. So Sibling’s Day was created! 

It has been over a decade since we first started exchanging gifts, but it is a tradition we still hold to. This year we have the joy of adding a sibling…our new sister-in-law Amber!  Though busy schedules means we can’t always be together on this day, October 10th remains a wonderful reminder of how fortunate I am to have such great brothers and sisters. I love you all! (And I can’t wait to exchange presents! 😉 )