Gratitude Tuesday.. Weekend Edition..

Now that I’m moving out of recovery mode and into rebuilding mode - I was sitting on my bed today and looking out my window – boxes and bins of things to be thrown out, filed, and entered into my schedule in stacks around me I just took a moment to appreciate the gentle rain coming down outside. I truly have so much to be grateful for.

I have a loving family who supports me from across the country and even supports me living here where I’m happy and doing well. I have a great job and I’m able to be self-sufficient and prepare for the next gap in campaigns. I have all that I need to be happy and to enjoy my surroundings.

Heavenly Father truly took a personal note to keep my car running over the past couple of years. I’m not entirely sure how with multiple trips through Donner Pass the winter before last, driving across the country, and again through a snowstorm down from Boston that my tires lasted... somehow they did until now (when I had enough extra in my bank account to pay for them out of pocket) and lasted almost 75,000 miles. By next month I’ll need to replace the brakes and do some other repairs, but I’ve only put in a few bucks here and there into that car to keep it running magnificently.

I have great friends here in Virginia and across the country. I got Maria and Joel’s wedding announcement in the mail yesterday and it just has me thinking how great they are together and how blessed I am to have met them in my travels around the country. I’ve been blessed to have been influenced, loved, and taught by some of my favorite people in the world in my brief stints in the great cities of this country. I’ve gotten to know family even better, met new friends, visited old ones, reconnected with friends from my childhood, and had time to spend with my family in the in-between months.

On a related note – I’ve been able to not only travel through or catch a glimpse of lots of places, but I’ve the cities have become a part of me. When someone talks about Awful-Awfuls in the middle of the night (PLEASE someone figure out how to bring one of these to me in DC ASAP) in Reno or Ricotta Pie from the North Shore (I still have dreams and it’s on my to do list to find the perfect recipe… someday). I can still get around most of the cities I’ve lived in if I had to and keep in touch with most of the folks to some degree. I just love them. I love celebrating with them their promotions, graduations, engagements, marriages, and babies. I love all of the history and the regional quarks. I love the little festivals and traditions like apple picking and fall leaves, snow in Tahoe, ice cream sundaes in Ghiradelli Square, and walking the monuments at night with a good friend or dozen.

Now, this may become a little bit awkward and I don’t you to misunderstand… so please hear me out… I’m grateful that I’m still single. Weird, right? I’ve had so many great opportunities and I’ve been able to move around effortlessly without being tied down as a result. I’ve grown as an individual and I’ve learned a lot more about politics and life because of those experiences. There’s still a lot of polishing that needs to be done, but I’m stronger now and I’ve changed a lot in the past couple of years. Sure, I would have loved to have been married and having babies by now, but this just feels right. I know it will work out at the right time when it is right in His time. I’ve never been one of those distraught single people or in anyway felt like I was lacking because I wasn’t married, but it’s certainly a goal I’m working on.

I’m grateful for life. I’m grateful for all of the talents I’ve been given. I’m grateful for the knowledge of the gospel. I’m grateful for continued revelation. I’m grateful for the comfort of the Holy Ghost in my life and the amazing power that it has to keep me going when I don’t have anymore inside me. I’m grateful for the Atonement – the perfect, infinite Atonement that fills in all gaps, imperfections, and shortcomings.

I guess… simply… I’m so grateful to be me – now, here, with what I have, doing what I’m doing, and with the people I’ve been blessed to know. I dare say life couldn’t be any better…