Gratitude Journal-Weekend edition Nov.4,5,6th

Ok...I got home from the Riverdale ballgame, which they WON (Whoo hoo), late and I didn't feel like sitting at the computer after sitting out in the cold for several hours so I broke my routine. I'd done really well about posting every night until Friday.Then Sat. I just forgot...lol. So here I am on Sunday night at 7:24, trying to type and not fall asleep. The time change will take a few days to get used to. I vote we just leave it alone, that way we would never have to adjust and readjust our body clocks every spring and fall.
 So...things that I am thankful for...I thought since I'm several days behind, I would still only do five, but then I decided if I had one or two more to add them. Maybe I'll get on a roll...you never know with me. Once I get going it's hard to stop me. :)

1.  On Friday night, I was grateful for my neighbor of 19 years, Brenda. She and her daughters, Janice and Melissa have been a part of our family since we had Shannon. When she was born, Janice was 15, so she babysat for us the first time we went anywhere. Greg and I went to see the Lion King when it came out in the theaters the FIRST time, in the summer of 1994 after Shannon was born in May. After that, a friendship turned into gaining members of the family. Janice or Melissa would babysit for us and Shannon LOVED them. Still does to this day. Brenda sat in the cold with me on Friday night to watch Shannon cheer and because Riverdale was playing Coffee County, which is where Janice's kids go after they leave her elementary school.  This is Janice, Shannon and her son, Jaden.

2.  And I'm grateful for Brenda, one of my bestest buddies.

She and I have been best friends for I can't even tell you how many years. She's one of those people I don't have to talk to every day, but I know if I ever need her, I can pick up the phone and she's right there for whatever. Sometimes I just call her because I haven't talked to her in a while and she'll do the same thing with me. Sometimes we do it on the same day after we haven't talked to each other in a week or two. We do that a LOT. It's so funny. I think our brains run on the same wavelength or something. She's been a major support system for me with my writing endeavors and everything else. She reads what I write and tells me what she likes or what's not clear. I completely trust her because I know she'll tell me the truth, like she always has. Your true friends will tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. That's her. I love her and am so glad she's been a part of my adult life and my kid's lives.

3. I am grateful for Saturday being the perfect Fall day. Full sunny sky, the air was cool, but warm enough not to need a jacket. I'm grateful for the leaves falling off the trees so Cass can rake them. She had a blast playing in them too.

This is all that's left of the leaves on the maple tree in the front yard.  The rest are on the ground.

4.  I'm also grateful for Cassidy. Obviously, God sends you challenges in your life to learn from them and I must've been in sore need of major amounts of patience. She's taught me patience, negotiating skills, and to appreciate every little thing. When she stopped talking, and the Autism took her words, she used to beat her head against the floor or against the wall and cry because she was so frustrated. I wanted to cry too because it was like we were starting all over again. In a way, we were. She had to learn how to talk all over again. I can remember saying to other moms in the waiting room at Special Kids, "I wish she would just talk."
And they all said, "Just wait...you'll get your wish and then she won't shut up." And they'd laugh. They were  SO right. It's that whole 'Be careful what you wish for' thing.  She talks quite a bit now. Sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes it's maddening. Like, drive you crazy, pull your hair out maddening. She 'self-talks' most of the time, but when you can get her attention, you can carry on a conversation with her. For her to even get to that point took a lot of speech therapy.
Being in middle school has been hard on both of us the past two years. Last year was ok,but this year has been much worse. Luckily, she's a likeable kid whose happy the majority of the time. She's upstairs right now working a 1000 piece puzzle because she likes to do it. If you tell her she did a good job with something she'll say, "Yeah...I know." I wish I had her self esteem. :) When I finally do begin to publish my stories, I hope to make a little extra money to put back for her.

5.  I'm grateful for this gift God has given me called writing. I absolutely love it. So much that sometimes I can sit at the laptop for hours and then when my hand and arm start hurting I realize I've been sitting here with my characters talking and I'm typing away writing down everything they're saying and I'm seeing. I usually go back at least 3 or 4 times and change things or make the sentence tighter.  I love it. I hope I'll always be able to do it. It gives me another outlet to be creative. I just hope my brain doesn't give out with Alzheimer's. I forget things so often, that's a really big fear of mine. I'm hoping writing and teaching music will keep my brain active enough to ward off anything like that.

So...that was my weekend list. What things are you grateful for? Little or big...it doesn't matter. If you're grateful for someone in your life, you should tell them. You never know how many moments you have left with them.