I Am So Thankful For ...

Sometimes I get caught up in thoughts about “if only ... “ or “I wish I could ...” or “I can’t afford it ... ” (the last one being one of my most common sayings). It’s not like I live my life being negative because I don’t. As a matter of fact, I am a very positive person. I just have this ingrained pride that has a real hard time accepting the fact that I am basically ‘poor’. Of course I am. I am on welfare. I have Section 8 housing. I am always running very low on gas. I have food stamps that last until about the fifteenth of the month. My daughter needs braces very badly—with obvious medical reasons—and “they” say those reasons aren’t extreme enough to qualify for Medi-Cal to pay for them. I wonder what we have to do to qualify for a medical reason? You would think with today’s technology that a thirty month long bout with braces is grounds for medical reason. Whatever ... Maybe I need a second, or third, opinion.

That brings me to the reason I am writing this. Regardless of all the things I can’t afford, I am still living a rewarding life. I am so thankful that my four children (ages one-thirteen) are basically healthy. I am so thankful that I have not had to deal with the loss of a child, or a child with a terminal illness, or mental illness, or even a child with deformities that require twenty-four hour medical care. None with Down syndrome or autism. Granted, those children are just as special as any other child, I am talking about the time consuming effort put in to raising them. None of them have ever come up ‘missing’ or ‘kidnapped’ or ‘murdered’ or ‘abused’ or even hit by a car. I am so thankful that my children and I have God in our lives.

I am so thankful that I have never taken a life in any way, by accident, anger, hatred, or deliberately. Believe me, I have been unsafe before and had some very close calls and I just know that God was watching out for me. I am so thankful that we have a nice, comfortable house to live in—right next door to a nice park. The neighborhood is nice, also. I am so thankful for the family I have and that there isn’t anger or degradation or jealousy or fighting or conflict in it. There is security and love and laughter and encouragement in my whole family. I am so thankful that my grandma turned one hundred years old today and for all the memories I have of her as I was growing up.

I am so thankful that I have a dependable vehicle to drive no matter how low the gas tank gets.