I have never been more aware of how difficult life is than I am now.  I have people close to me who have lost children, who are walking through divorce, who live in the darkness of depression, those who have been hurt so deeply they lose all trust and embrace emotional isolation. In fact, I have been that person.  Hurting people are my people.

So.  Every now and then.  Or honestly, more than that, in spite of the suck and the heavy, we need to savor some sweet. My life is better and richer and more enjoyable because of these rather tiny things…

• vanilla milkshake from McDonalds (yummier than Chick-Fil-A and Bruster’s and not-as-bad-for-you, I think)
• listening to my girls pray
• a succinct explanation captured in just the right words (rarely happens for me…)
• pee-in-your-pants, gasping-for-air laughter
• an easy exercise day (not necessarily a light one – just one that’s not agony with every step)
• small surprises (bigger ones tend to freak out the planner in me – that’s very sad, I know)
• a big, Sunday meal cooked by my Mama (FRIED CHICKEN!!!!!)
• people who know me and get excited to see me (as opposed to people who know me and don’t get excited to see me)
• hormonal balance
• dishes that don’t take long to wash
• new episodes of Gator Boys and other favorite shows
• good hair days
• reading the Sunday paper
• justice
• new restaurants
• the absence of fear
• deep, deep needed sleep
• adult Halloween parties
• a good hard sob that leaves me with gigantic eyelids and a killer headache (not often, mind you – but there’s a purging and an honesty that takes place in that kind of cry)
• offspring who wake up happy
• returning home after a weekend away
• naps
• a completed To Do list
• beauty
• finding a recipe that I already have the ingredients for
• contagious enthusiasm
• planning vacations
• Scripture that speaks right to my need
• warm chocolate chip cookies
• grace

I am thankful for my abundant life – an abundance of blessings and joys and smiles and belly laughs and tears and challenges and frustrations and freedoms and treats and twists and turns and surprises and…I am thankful for it all. But most of all I am thankful for Him who is responsible for all the good around me, for anything good in me, and for anything good that ever comes from me. He is Goodness.