HSKS 9 - Thanksgiving themed assignment

This week Celticmommy (aka our team captain Siobhan Mooney) challenged us to blog about what we are thankful for. She demonstrated with a nice colourful tree painting with little leaves. I love that idea, it's one I do with my Brownies nearly every year, but this year I'm 3000 miles away from all my crafty stuff, so I don't have the stuff I need to make a tree, so I'm just going to a plain old blog post. However, here is a nice tree picture...



And because it's a thanksgiving themed post, here's a picture of a turkey.



Yummy yummy!

I'm thankful for a lot of things. A lot more than I was thankful for a year ago. This time last year I was stressing about university, and Neil and I were broken up, and my best friend had just been dumped and things were just generally very messy. This year things are a lot lot better.

I'm thankful for my best friend Jen. I love you dearly and I miss you so much.

I'm thankful for the second chance I've been given with Neil. Being apart from you last year was hell and having you back in my life makes the empty hole inside me go away.

I'm thankful for my family. For Jennie and Michaela and Mum. I still have a lot of issues with my family, with my Dad's side mostly, but thanks to Jennie and Michaela and Mum refusing to give up on me - no matter how screwed up I am - I still have a family I can turn to.

Speaking of family, I am very very very thankful for my Mum. We've had some major ups and downs and there were a lot of times we didn't like each other very much. But she has been a wonderful, forgiving, understanding and open-minded mother. So many of my friends have had to face horrible disappointment and judgment from their family for decisions they make. My mum has never ever done that, and even after all I put her through, she is still there for me. And everyone else in the world.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to come to America and fulfil a lifelong dream, even if it has made me realise that I don't want to continue with university.

I'm thankful for Ravelry, and all the new friends I've made there, and for the wonderful swaps. There is nothing quite like receiving packages of goodies on a day that isn't a birthday or christmas.

I'm thankful for my health. I'm morbidly overweight, incredibly unfit, I suffer from terrible headaches, my shoulder aches 75% of the time and my ankle is screwed. But I can see, and I can touch, and I have full use of my hands and legs. I can breathe okay, I'm not riddled with any fatal diseases. I am alive, and I'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful for everyone in my life who makes me glad to be alive. In the past I've spent a lot of time wishing I wasn't, and the people in my life at the moment bring me out of that suicidal mess. There is nothing you can do for a person that is more special and precious than making them glad to be alive.