Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, and in the spirit of being thankful, I thought I'd share with you all the many many blessings I am thankful for this year.  Let me just say before I start that I am sure that I will forget something, as I am so incredibly blessed, but I will list as much as I can at the moment....

1.  I am thankful for my Daddy.  He is the most amazing father a girl could ask for, and as we were discussing just this morning, great dads are hard to find.  He has been so patient with me through the last few years as I've wandered from job to job and tried to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing with my life, and I appreciate so much his unconditional love for me.  

2.  Along those same lines, I am thankful for my step-mom.  She has made my daddy so incredibly happy after losing my mama, and I will always be thankful to her for that.  I am also thankful for her patience with me as I try to acclimate myself to this new family and new life that I never expected to have.  I am thankful that I am growing to love her, and that she is growing to love me.  And I pray that that continues for many more years. 

3.  As I look towards my 5th holiday season without my mommy, I am thankful for the wonderful life that she lead, and the wonderful relationship we had.  I am thankful for the woman she raised me to be, and for the 23 years I had with her.  

4.  I am thankful that at 28 years old I am still able to enjoy time with all of my grandparents.  I am thankful that I get to have dinner with them regularly, and that I truly enjoy my time with them.  I am thankful that they are all in (relatively) good health, and that I have many more years of good memories to celebrate with them.  

5.  I am thankful for the Ruppel family.  I can honestly say that they are 7 reasons why I have survived the last five years.  I am thankful for the summer I got to live in their home and really get to know Daddy John and Mama Joanie.  And for the 5 extra siblings I have in Chris, Bebba, KT, Nick, and Zoe-girl.  My oldest and dearest friends.

6.  I am thankful for my sister-in-law, Missy.  She came into our family so easily, and loves my (sometimes difficult) brother unconditionally.  She is by far one of my best friends.  I look forward to her phone calls and spending time with her.  I can't imagine our family or my life without her, and I am so thankful that my brother chose his wife so brilliantly. 

7.  I am thankful for a great group of friends that support me and lift me up and have loved me through many stages in my life. Friends from childhood (Jilly-bean!), high school (Liz, Emily, Brianne, Andrea, Krystal), College (My Megs!), Cincinnati (Tricia and Robyn), and newer friends like Shashy, Boo, Kate, and Rhonda - I am so blessed.  God sent you all to me for a reason, and I could never thank him enough.  

8.  I am thankful for this new journey I am embarking on.  I am thankful to have finally found a career path that I am sooooo excited about.  To feel like I am finally using the brain that God blessed me with.  I am looking forward to finally being challenged and working hard and seeing a result.  I am thankful to know that I will be making a difference in so many lives.  I am thankful that God never gave up on me, and never stopped leading me, even when I wasn't paying attention.  

9.  I am thankful for my "nieces" and "nephews" and my God-son.  I don't see them as much as I would like to, but each of them - Molly, Leah, Gabriel, Cameron, and Carter - has been a huge blessing to me.  I look forward to continuing to watch them grow and learn and to be awed by how amazing they all are.  And I look forward to loving Baby Reagan like my own as well! 

10.  Last but DEFINITELY not least - I am thankful for A.  I am thankful to have a found a man who loves me as I have always wanted to be loved.  I am thankful to be able to love him and to be myself and to be cherished for who I am.  I am thankful for what he is teaching me about love, and life, and myself.  I am thankful that at the end of the day, next to him is ALWAYS where I want to be.  I am thankful for his support of my desire to go to med school and become a doctor.  I am thankful for the future we are dreaming of together, and the life we are building right now.  He inspires me every day with his patience and perseverance, and I can't imagine loving anyone more than I love him.  

That is the Top 10.  I'm sure if I sat here long enough, I would come up with at least 10 more things to be thankful for.  I didn't mention my aunts and uncles and cousins, my health, my home, or TCU football - all things that I am extremely thankful for as well :)  But on this day when we pause to say "Thank you" to a God that created each of us and loves us unendingly and unconditionally - I wanted to take a moment to write it down.  Because I have been incredibly blessed, and I don't ever want to forget that.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

Love

This, just to warn you, will most likely be a sappy post.  

I spent this last weekend celebrating the marriage of my dear friend Tricia, to Aaron, a wonderful man who is so perfectly suited to Tricia, I know only God could have fit them together.  At their wedding I read a poem from an old book of poetry that belonged to Tricia's grandpa.  The poem is so beautiful, I tear up every time I read it.  Many people at the wedding told me that they did the same.  My new friend Meghana, one of the bridesmaids, told me after the ceremony that she couldn't even glance in her husband's direction the entire time I was reading because she found the poem so moving.  Here it is: 

“Love” 

by Roy Croft

I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
love means,
After all.

Tricia and Aaron changed the wording at the end a little, and I reflected that change here.  I like it better (No offense to Mr. Croft).  

This poem makes me think of A because I think it describes perfectly how I feel about him.  I love him because of the wonderful man that he is, his strength of character, his patience, his work ethic, his motivation, his sense of humor... I could go on forever.  But I also love him for the woman he is helping me to be.  He makes me good, he makes me laugh, he teaches me patience, he teaches me about sacrifice, about selflessness, about humbleness and about love because he embodies all these things.  He has made of my sad, empty life a song.  He is helping me to build something useful out of the great big scrap heap my life used to be.  He took the time to see past my white middle-class incompatibilities to the girl I am underneath, and he loves her.  And that makes me love her too.  And love him even more.  

So there - I warned you it would be sappy.  But this weekend left me in a sappy kind of mood.  And I just wanted to tell the world how grateful I am to be living wheel life with A.