Practicing Gratitude

Dang, how is it Thursday ALREADY??!  Is it just me, or do they seem to come thicker and faster each month?  Sheesh.

Well, once again, I have plenty to be thankful for, not the least of which is safe travel home from my sister-in-law's home on Monday evening!

The ride there on Sunday afternoon was wonderful and took us pretty much exactly 3 hours.  But by the time the girls and I left for home late Monday afternoon, it had been drizzling and raining steadily since before dawn.  There is a 64 km/40 mi stretch of gravel road one must travel in order to take the shortest route between our homes and that had become a slippery, pothole-y, sloppy mess.  What had taken barely more than half an hour on Sunday, took me a good 50 minutes on Monday.  The highways all the way home were wet, and because they are in horrible shape in such deserted areas, the puddles of water in the grooves made for less-than-ideal driving conditions the whole way home.

My fears and suspicions came to fruition about an hour from home when dusk had become night and the rain changed to $n*w.  Thankfully, the road was still warm enough that it never got slippery or slushy and it only lasted for about half an hour, but man, I tell ya, I was still VERY relieved to pull into our driveway after almost four hours on cruddy roads!  Many utterings and silent prayers of gratitude went up that evening and well into Tuesday.  (and I'm thankful there's still no snow at our place!)

Driving issues aside though, we had a great Thanksgiving visit with my sister-in-law and her husband.  The Man's family is considerably more spread out now than it used to be, so I'm grateful that while we couldn't ALL be together for Thanksigiving this year, at least we could get together with another couple to celebrate.

I'm thankful for family who are also close friends.  I'm thankful to be married into a family that suddenly provided me with 3 siblings, and more recently, two in-law siblings and two nieces.  Oh, and that extra set of parents!  ;)

I am thankful I get the best of both worlds ~ experiences as an only child AND a larger family.  And that I'll get another turkey dinner when my parents come out this weekend!
 
I am grateful The Man finally got to have one of his dream vacations:  a week of hunting.  I've mentioned before here on the ol' blawg that this past half-year has been a little rough on him, so I'm so glad he got to do something like this.  He's coming home today with a whole mess of goose and duck for me to learn how to cook ~ good thing I love kitchen adventures!  And I'm thankful for "free" meat!!

Well, the rifle shells and a hunting license all cost a fair bit, but you can't put a price on food that's provided by indulging in a hobby/favourite pastime!

 

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