I am posting late—this fall has been a crazy time in our family! I had knee surgery again (my third of four) at the end of October, and though I couldn’t quite muster the energy to pick up my big camera every day during November, I didn’t want to quit what has become a treasured annual tradition for me of spending the month of November documenting the big and little things for which I am most thankful (see 2013 beginning here and 2014 beginning here). So instead I decided to use my iPhone this year.
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- Day 1: I’m thankful to live in a world that has mini Reese’s peanut butter cups (and for a daughter who shares her Halloween bounty with me)! 😍
- Day 2: I am so very thankful for my sister, and that she came to be with me during the first few days after my surgery to keep me company and help out. And she brought me the prettiest baby orchid that I see every day while I sit here and ice! 💕 She’s the best…
- Day 3: For cheery flowers from my husband!
- Day 4: For good friends and Christmas cups.
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- Day 5: My girl got glasses today! It’s a very minor prescription but it will help her to read street signs more easily at night while she’s, um, driving. (I’m choking a little bit on that… How can it be?) But I admit, having her driving—especially while I can’t—is definitely a thankful thing! ☺️
- Day 6: So very thankful today (and for the last 12 days) for my inlaws, who offered to fly here to help out while I was recuperating—chauffeuring, doing laundry, washing dishes, cooking, cleaning—even scooping litter boxes and cleaning the bird cage… And for their not being overly bored while I pretty much watched TV, slept, and read while continuously icing… 💕
- Day 7: Thankful for kitty snuggles while I ice… 😍
- Day 8: Thankful for the quiet, beautiful moments in every day…
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- Day 9: Thankful for a really good storm!!!! Complete with crazy thunder and lightning—intense and beautiful! And we here in California need it so desperately…
- Day 10: Thankful for my amazing new doctor at Stanford!!!! Finally there’s a solution in sight for over a year of problems. Had all the old ACL hardware removed from the first failed surgery and then bone grafting to solidify all the bone that was compromised by the first surgery and the fact that my body didn’t like the original donor graft. (When this is incorporated—tentatively late winter or early spring— I’ll go in for one last surgery to redo the ACL, but this time using my own tendon.)
- Day 12: So once in a long while, Tom’s Sharks season tickets come with a benefit for Emily and me: Tonight we got four free(!!) suite tickets (including free dinner, wine, snacks, and beer!) to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. It is so decadent, and the energy at SAP is awesome!!
- Day 13: I know he appears too often in my posts, but he’s pretty much my constant companion so I’m beyond thankful for him!! 😍
- Day 14: Thankful for my girl who is 1) still sentimental about her childhood creations but who will let me throw them away after taking a picture, and 2) who spent some time taking the edge off of the mess in the office closet (even if she was doing it to procrastinate 😝)!
- Day 15: …for Trader Joe’s flowers to cheer up my nightstand! (I’m choosing to embrace the blur…)
- Day 16: …for snuggly evenings reading together, even if hers has to be homework…
- Day 17: …for kitty walks (though in typical cat fashion, he walks us, not the other way around…).
- Day 18: Still not really on my feet enough to be doing a lot of cooking, so today I am tremendously thankful for my sweet friend Tracey, who brought me not only lunch (and hung out with me while we ate—such a fun visit!), but also brought tomorrow’s lunch and an amazingly delicious homemade dinner for all three of us! (And there may or may not have also been approximately nine rice crispie treats that I may or may not have polished off all by myself before I even remembered to take a picture, complete with hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks!)
- Day 20: …for my little chauffeur! I needed to get a dress for a party, so I had to get to the mall but am not driving quite yet (soon though!!!!).
- Day 21: …for Emily wanting to make my kinesiology tape (trying to reduce swelling) look cute! 😜😍
- Day 22: Thankful for lifelong friends (Karen!), and for Emily, who insisted we not break a decades-long tradition by skipping cookies this year (I was feeling a bit Grinchy about the thought of trying to get them done this year, I admit…) And also, I’m grateful they are done!
- Day 23: …for a nightstand full of things that make me happy! 😍
- Day 24: …for grownup lemon drops after a busy day…
- Day 25: It’s Thanksgiving! And today I’m thankful for my family, and particularly for my sister, who once again made us an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. She started us off with cider mimosas, and the prettiest (and tastiest!) hors d’œuvres I think I’ve ever seen! I absolutely need to make sugared cranberries one day soon.
- Day 26: …for the fact that, for the first time ever, he asked to crawl under the covers with me. He chose a perfect day since I wasn’t feeling the greatest, and he curled up against me and purred and slept for hours! Life is good…
- Day 27: …for passing the torch! I hate how quickly she’s growing up, but now and then there are advantages, I admit! I’m not quite up for putting lights on the whole tree yet—it’s a huge job when I’m fully functional. So this year I taught Emily! I did a few strands here and there when she needed a break, but she did the bulk of the 18 strands. And she did a beautiful job! Not sure I ever want to do it by myself again… 😝
- Day 28: …for Tom & Jerry season (Tom & Worries, per my Great Grandpa!), and for Emily for making them for me! 💕
- Day 29: …for Christmastime! 🎄
- Day 30: …for Holly being back (she thought Emily’s door needed a wreath)—we can’t wait to see what “she” does this year! 😝
(Sigh—yes, this Thirty Thankful Things post only contains 28 images—somehow between then and now I seem to have lost two of them, but they are all on my Instagram feed!)
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