You know how “they’re” always telling you to create a gratitude journal? Jot down all the people and things in your life for which you are thankful is the idea. Great in theory, right? If you’re like me, though, you never quite get around to it. Heck, I’ve even written about the benefits of doing this for a national magazine and still haven’t done it.
But it’s an idea that lately I can’t seem to shake. It keeps popping into my head as I (annoyingly) tell myself, “chin up, girl, things could always be worse.” Aggravating self-talk part 2: “Put your big girl pants on already” and “This too shall pass.”
Seeing as how I’ve really lapsed in writing posts this spring, I figured now is as good of a time as any to get cranking on The List. Plus, I generally am a thankful, hopeful person – I just happen to keep much of it in my head. So, here it is, a compilation of some greatness I’ve got going on, in no particular order. Maybe this will inspire you to start your own list, or if you’ve started one in the past, to get back to it. And since I’m a sucker for great stories, let me know what’s keeping you sane and smiling these days.
· Intelligent, loving, strong women in my life. Something happened in the last few years, and I am so happy about it: I have been lucky to have found myself surrounded by girlfriends who really, really get me. And they still want to hang around with me! That’s the miracle part, ‘cause believe me, I’m no picnic sometimes. We talk books, kids, husbands, faith, fitness, politics, pop culture, you name it. We might not even be talking about anything significant at all; it could be we’re simply being with each other, sipping glasses of wine. Oh, and laughing. Lots and lots of laughing.
· A cool town to call home. I’ve lived in northern Michigan for much of my life, save for a few years I was at Michigan State University, and the early years of my career and marriage when I called Minnesota home. And I swear, this place just keeps getting better and better. I’m sure there are plenty of terrific places to live and raise a family, but Traverse City surely is at the top. Great local food and drink, progressive thinking, friendly people, beautiful location on Lake Michigan…I’m proud to call this spot on the map my hometown. I have “I heart my city” moments fairly regularly, and a recent one was this: sitting up close and personal at our downtown’s City Opera House to hear one of my favorite authors speak about her amazing memoirs. Meeting her afterward, well, that was just too cool. I was a bumbling idiot, I’m sure, as she signed my book. But she was gracious and lovely and best of all confirmed my suspicion that we’d get along like peanut butter and jelly when she said this about raising kids (she’d asked me if I had children and I told her yes, three): “Oh, bless you.” Pause. And, looking me straight on: “It’s f*cking hard, isn’t it?” in her honey-smooth southern drawl. Saying it like it is - that’s my kind of woman. · A virtual running community. I’m not sure what I’d do without my running buddies who live near me, but darn if we're not all so flippin’ busy. Translation: aligning our kid-partner-work-life schedules so we can actually lace up and hit the trails together is tough and often means we’re instead running solo during the windows of time we have to fit in exercise. It’s nice to have found an online running community that keeps me motivated and gives me a place to share running stories (and not bore my non-running friends). What I really like about this particular community are the women behind it: Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea – runners who also are writers, mothers and all-around fantastic women. Nope, I don’t know them in real life, but having read their articles in Runner’s World for years and then recently devouring their new book Run Like A Mother, I feel like we’re kinda sorta friends. Most of all, it’s a good feeling to find a group of like-minded women who get why in the world you’d want to drag yourself out of bed at dawn to run four miles. (Hint: your sanity depends upon it.)
· The best kids a mom could ask for. Let me just say it: motherhood is tough, the baby years being especially brutal for me at times. But watching my three children, now ages 9, 7 and 4 grow and change and develop their individual selves is proving quite fulfilling. Parenting is still hard and complicated more times than I ever would have thought pre-kids, but it’s also satisfying and humbling and beautifully imperfect. Moments I’m digging: cuddling on the couch with Emma, watching cheesy movies like The Wedding Planner or Aquamarine; tossing an MSU football in the front yard with Andrew; searching for roly-poly bugs under rocks with Alex. Sometimes my husband and me, we’ll just stop in a moment with our kids, look at each other and have the same thought: we made these amazing little people. How cool is that? Here's a picture of me and my crew on our vacation to Gulf Shores, Ala.· Magazines! I like the internet as much as the next girl, but show me a rack of hot-off-the-presses magazines and I am in heaven. At one time I subscribed to a bazillion of them – slight exaggeration – and my college roommates could surely tell you stories about how I was so not okay with anyone leafing through any of my magazines arriving in the mail until I first had the chance to kick back and read them cover to cover. These days, partly to tell myself I’m saving money, I subscribe to just a few. Which is really kind of silly, actually, since I end up buying them at the store. Favorites: O, Runner’s World, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Women’s Health….ok, this list would get too long if I kept going. Let’s just say that our recent week-long vacation gave me ample time to catch up on pretty much every magazine published on this planet. It’s a sickness, and I fully own it.
· The coolest auto-immune disease around. OK, stay with me here! Yes, psoriasis on the surface (pun intended) is among the most heart-breaking things to have, in my humble opinion. Red, scaly skin is so not sexy, not to mention this skin disease is often misunderstood by the general public (it’s not in fact contagious, and no I can’t simply slather on lotion to make it go away). But I’m pretty sure having this disease is teaching me important things that I may not otherwise have learned. I’ve also met some pretty amazing people throughout my journey, which has included lots of hiding and feelings of shame early on but in more recent years my own brand of bravery by “coming out” about having psoriasis for a big-name women’s magazine. It’s also led me to want to educate others (and hopefully help people, too), which is happening through articles I’m writing for the National Psoriasis Foundation and just by feeling more comfortable in my own skin. A recent perk of this health condition: getting to interview LeAnn Rimes about her own struggle with this disease. (She was very kind, sweet, funny and easy to talk with.) Oh, and I also recently got paid to get a professional make-up session and write about it. Not bad.
· Coffee. I’d pretty much cease to exist without it, I think. While we’re at it: dark chocolate, cheese, Oberon and Blue Moon on draft, blue-cheese stuffed olives, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and spaghetti with meatballs. Not all at the same time, though I am starting to see why that flat tummy I covet is so elusive. Something else (which goes well with a cup of joe): music. Current faves: Coldplay, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and Ray LaMontagne (on whom I have a crush and am convinced is a kindred spirit). God love Pandora radio on my iPhone.Once you get started on these, I’ll bet you won’t be able to stop. Which is pretty cool since it can be easy to get caught up in life’s negativity rather than all the pretty terrific stuff going on. Here’s to thankfulness – and remembering to stop and appreciate all the good in your life.
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