Meldowns and thank yous

I might have apologized to my gracious mother in law yesterday for the meltdowns she had to witness.  Unfortunately, it was me that was doing most of the melting.  The kids were just following.  Why are some days just (sob) so (sob) hard (sob) to deal with?  (sob sob.)  

Then I was reminded how there are many behaviours to adopt to have a healthier, full, happier, and more in-control life.  One of the greatest?  

Gratitude.  

I read that I’ll live longer if I focus on being thankful.  Yesterday, I didn’t seem to want to increase the number of days destined for me, but a good nights’ sleep has brought me to muster the motivation to say thank you.  

-Thank you- to my husband, who bought me a diamond necklace on the day (there have been more than one) he was mad at me.

-Thank you - to my parents, who detailed my crumb filled and juice splattered car when I was away so that I could come home to a clean one.

-Thank you - to my sister, who makes sure I know that she loves my kids almost as much as her own.  For real, not just in words.

-Thank you - to my grandparents, who have filled their house with toys once again.

-Thank you - to my brother in law, who stayed true to his dental care promise even though I ended up needing a root canal and tooth extraction.

-Thank you - to my brother, who lets me treat him like my little brother sometimes, even though he isn’t little anymore.

-Thank you - to my sister in law, who makes cantaloupe popsicle making a priority before we visit because she knows my son loves them.

-Thank you - to my sweet friend, who send me pictures of my mail so that I can review it while we are gone.

-Thank you - to my cousin and aunt who threw my baby girl a fabulous butterfly birthday party even though it was the first time they had even met her.

-Thank you - to my cousin who loved on my son the morning after the son screamed for several hours on the bunk above him because he couldn’t get the turtle key chains to hang properly.  You are the picture of grace.  

-Thank you - to my aunt and uncle, who took my children on a real safari on their day off.

-Thank you - to my cousin and her family who let us park our honkin’ RV in front of their home and who took us to get the biggest ice cream treat ever.

-Thank you - to my every so gracious in laws for just laughing as we unloaded all of our RV possessions (which is more than you’d think would fit in an RV) into their garage and backyard.  And who just go along with it all as we live in their house and don’t even ask when we will leave.  I promise you - we will leave.  Thank you for letting us stay here.  

I don’t know how I got so lucky to be loved by so many.  

I didn’t have to apologize to mother in law today for any more meltdowns.  I can’t make any promises about tomorrow, but so far so good for today.  Maybe gratefulness helps.


Who are you thankful for and why?