Tis the Season to be Thankful

First of all, Happy Holidays! I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you a prosperous and healthy New Year! I've definitely been enjoying my time at home with my family, but am getting anxious to get back into the "real world" of job searching and puppy training. Anywho, the holidays always remind me of all of the things in my life that I have to be thankful for, so I thought that I'd compose a little list.

In no particular order, things that I'm thankful for:

**My family** They are and have always been my biggest support system. Whether I'm laughing or crying, they're by my side, ready to pick me up or to give me a reality check if that's what's needed at the time. :) I could not have asked to have been born into a more loving and wonderful family than the one that I was blessed with.

**Keith** He's put up with my insane irritability for the past several months and always manages to look on the bright side. He makes me smile and laugh WAY too much, over nothing most of the time, and I can't even begin to tell you how much he means to me! His awesome family has also been really supportive over the past months, not to mention kind enough to share their son, (and in Lynn's case-her home) with me.

**My puppy, Kona** Based on all of the photos posted on the blog, you all already know how awesome I think she is! She chews on things and bites my toes, but she's always ready to snuggle and give puppy kisses to make up for it. Just by being a puppy, on mornings when it didn't seem worth getting out of bed at all, she coaxed me out of bed, sometimes even with something resembling a smile on my face.

**My friends** Even though some of my friends are even worse at keeping in touch than I am, I know that they're always there for me. I'll never forget the library dance, Sunday morning spooning, randomly breaking into song, or nights spent watching the same movies we watched the weekend before. They say you're lucky if you can count your good friends on one hand, and I'm happy to say that I can, and they're REALLY good ones, even!

**My health** While this may seem like sarcasm at first glance, let me assure you that it is not. One thing that never hurts is a big dose of perspective. While I'm not running around doing cartwheels, I'm a far shot away from dying, which is more than a lot of people can say. If little kids can fight cancer, I can get out of bed every day (most days anyway) with a smile on my face knowing that I'm lucky because I don't have to deal with something life-threatening.

While I'm sure that I could go on and on, I think you get the point. Again, Happy Holidays, everybody!