What I’m Thankful For

I’m thankful that this Christmas we don’t have to worry about where we’ll find the money to make this Christmas special for our children and that our biggest dilemma right now is deciding how many toys is too many or not quite enough. I am thankful that I don’t have to face the difficulty of caring for a unhealthy child and that my biggest complaint is that my children act their age. I’m thankful that I have a partner that loves and respects me and above all, treats me the way I should be treated. I am thankful for a (crazy and) loving family that undoubtedly would be there for me and my family at a moment’s notice if and when the occasion called. I’m thankful for friends that can’t fully comprehend my chaotic life but make every attempt to, who work with my schedule and carry on a conversation as if it’s been days instead of months since we’ve last spoke. I am thankful that it’s possible for me to watch my children grow before my very eyes and with a bitter-sweetness know exactly where all that time went. I’m thankful I live in a healthy and safe environment that allows me the privilege to willingly question who I am and grow into a person I can be proud of.

Beautiful and perfectly shattered.

I am especially and truly thankful because I can distinctly recall a time when I lost the invaluable human connection with many people I love and felt as if there was not a single soul to lean upon, when money was so scarce we waited until the last and final warning to pay our electrity bill and when uneasiness and ambiguity was what I faced as I looked unrecognizably into the mirror. But most of all, I am thankful that we each have a choice to live life like a mirror as every chapter in our story can and will damage us but we can choose to simply be a broken mirror or an object that illuminates more rays of light, than any new and perfect mirror could, when merely shined upon.

I am thankful I have chosen the latter.