Attitude of Gratitude.

This has been a really big year for us here at Casa de la Cochran. And I've found myself being reflective quite often about how thankful and how amazed I am at how my life has turned out this far. And I'm very, very thankful. There have been times in my life when I wasn't surrounded with such fabulous things and such terrific people and when I didn't have such amazing relationships. I think about those times and it makes this time so much more meaningful.

I'm thankful for our house and the material things I have. We were lying in bed the other night trying to go to sleep and I said to P, "It's really cool that we have all this stuff, and I'm glad we have it, but you know, we don't need it. I'd be just as happy if it all went away tomorrow and we had to go back to living in the old rent house." And it's true. It's just like the cherry on my ice cream sundae. It's not what makes my life great, but it's definitely a super nice bonus. And I don't ever want to take it for granted. Just yesterday P said to me, "Sometimes I feel like it's so nice I don't deserve it. Like I'm not worthy of having such nice stuff." And of course I reacted with WHAT?!?!?! Simply because he is absolutely one of the most motivated and hardest working-- and we're talking gritty, tough, physical labor-- people I've ever known in my life. So I explained to him that both of us have worked very hard for the things we have. We worked for years to get into a financial situation where we could be able to afford nice things, we tried very hard to make thoughtful decisions and take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves, and then on top of all that, we've just been extremely, exTREMEly fortunate. And we are thankful.

I'm also thankful for my marriage. We're going on the fifth year of our relationship now, and we're still in love. Nobody's working late just to get out of the house, nobody gets a nauseous feeling in the pit of their stomach when they pull up to the house and see the other one's home. We still want to spend as much time as possible with each other just because we're best friends and we have so much fun together. I didn't know it was possible to have a marriage like this-- that was actually fun and stayed fun. So I'm thrilled. I know that marriages like this are few and far between, so I'm very VERY thankful.

And I'm ecstatic about seeing my mom and sister this week. It's been a while since I've seen either of them, and it's always a good time when we get together. It's going to be an excellent holiday. And I'm sure, come Sunday, I'll be able to write another blog about my lack of thankfulness about going back to school. :)

Have a good one!