Thankful For...

Sometimes life deals some crappy hands - you know, the kind that make you want to quit playing poker because you know you can't bluff your way thru.

Sometimes life gives you a bowl full of lemons - and no where near enough tequila to make it interesting.

But sometimes, just sometimes, the sun comes out and warms you with its rays. The clouds part, the birds sing and you can see beauty in the small things around you.

Sometimes, not matter what else is going on - good, bad or indifferent - nothing can ruin your good mood.

Today is that day.

My heart is full, my world is right and if I could give some to everyone who needed it...I would not run short. It's an amazing feeling that I'd forgotten it ever existed.

Over at Dysfunctional Mommy - she does a Thankful Thursday - that always makes me smile and remember to count my blessings (no matter how small) and even though it is only Tuesday - I feel the need to be thankful for all that is today.

• I'm thankful for the unconditional love the hub always amazes me with.
• I'm thankful for the ability to get up each morning and go to work, not everyone has that anymore.
• I'm thankful for the chance to hug my children each morning and each night and tell them just how much they mean to me.
• I'm thankful for friends who are there to eat wings and drink beer with when its been a week from hell.
• I'm thankful for the chance to witness humanity in its most amazing form each time I see this community pull together for one of its own.
• I'm thankful to be here when there were times I couldn't see past the moment.

What are YOU Thankful for?

To Give

Belle of the Blog is having a most awesome giveaway on her blog that is in keeping with the spirit of the holidays...the spirit of giving. Inspired by Ferrero Chocolate and Share Our Strength, to enter, one must post about an act of kindness they've received and why it touched their lives. I've been fortunate enough to have many angels in my life along the way, but there is one who has a special place in my heart and here's why.

My very first year of college was a difficult one, partly because I was coming out of a difficult time in my life and partly because, well teen years are just plain difficult. I graduated high school and immediately started college, living in the dorm and struggling to make ends meet, I soon found myself working a job at the local mall. I had never worked retail before, but I was in the company of some really amazing ladies and I loved every minute of it. Months went by and I became friends with R who introduced me to her brother Woody. Both R and Woody were older than I and a lot more together than I was so when I found myself homeless, due to the closing of dorms for Christmas break, they opened their home to me.

That winter Woody became like the brother I never had, we talked and he was interested in my thoughts...nothing like the other guys who were interested in anything but my thoughts. Remember I mentioned I wasn't in the best place in my life and due to other circumstances I needed to move out of the dorms(permanently), only problem was I didn't have anyone I could move in with and I needed 1st and last months rent to move into an apartment, money I did not have. After a few weeks of spending time with Woody he offered to give me the money for the down payment on one condition, that I agree to help someone else along the way when I have my act together.

It's easy to look at this little story and see that what he did was perhaps not such a grand gesture, but in truth, it had a bigger impact than he could have known. At that point in my life I was teetering on the edge of a cliff and if I'd have fallen off, there would have been no return. Woody, a guy who barely knew me, took a chance on me. He challenged me to be better than I was at that moment in my life and while I could have just as easily taken the money and ended up a much different person, the fact that he believed in me was enough to give me the courage to step away from the edge of that cliff and get my life back on track.

Woody moved shortly after that christmas and I have not heard from him since then, but I still think fondly of this guy who took a chance on me.

Has someone inspired you with an act of kindness?