I am thankful

I am thrilled to have a break for the remainder of this week.  I am burnt out, and although there's only 1 week of class/clinical left before finals, I am so grateful for this little breather.

I am also thankful for Thanksgiving.  When things get crazy in life, I sometimes get to focusing on the negative stuff- my to do list is a million miles long, my dishes are piling up, I haven't vacuumed today, I am running out of clean clothes, the couch cover isn't straight, I am not doing very well in some classes, I will never be ready for the comprehensive Pharm HESI that covers the material from last term and this one- stuff like that.  Sometimes, it becomes relentless.  It starts from the moment I wake up in the morning and trip over some dirty clothes I left on the floor.  It continues while I'm in the shower and instead of relaxing and enjoying the warm water, I am noticing that the shower really could use a good cleaning and the shower curtain is starting to grow mold.  Maybe I walk into the kitchen to get my bowl of cereal, and there are no clean bowls. Another time, it might be that we had popcorn the night before and I left that bowl sitting in the living room.  Meanwhile, I am reviewing my schedule for the day and for the week, and I know that despite lots of time and effort, I will probably only put a dent in the school work that needs to be done.  And that's the priority.  So the filthy shower and the dirty dishes and the clothes on the floor will probably stay right where they are while I focus (or try to) on school.  That makes me feel incompetent.  I feel like I should be able to attend school and still keep a house at least relatively clean.  It doesn't need to be the kind of clean where all is spotless, but we should at least have dishes to eat off of and clothes to wear, and we should be able to walk around the apartment without risking a broken neck.  I know other people do it.  They have families with kids running all over the place and somehow they still knock out gigantic to do lists, keep their houses presentable, and come out of it all in a pretty good mood.  All I do is go to school.  I'm not working.  I'm not raising kids.  Heck, I hardly ever even have to cook.  I just go to school and keep an apartment.  So it frustrates me that I am not doing very well at either.

I went on about that longer than I had planned.  The point was that sometimes it is so easy for me to get caught up in all that, and I forget to appreciate what I do have.  So I am glad that there are holidays like Thanksgiving to bring people like me back to reality- I am blessed.  So, not to be cliche or anything, but in honor of the holiday, here are a few of the things I am thankful for:

In no particular order

Zack, Oreo cookies, my public health class, water, our car, Lucky Charms, that gas prices have dropped so much, my family, heating systems, scented candles, cute shoes, my church calling, naps, parking validations, my friends, prayer, Symphony Bar with toffee and almonds, the internet, the location of our apartment, batteries, the color black, nursing school (because eventually I'll come out a nurse...hopefully), telephones, turkey, running water, my birthday, Jesus, sunglasses, ibuprofen, lipgloss, Philadelphia, the gospel, my name, Pad Thai, coin rolls, temples, hot chocolate, summer, blankets, diamonds, nail polish, sunshine, water treatment facilities, umbrellas, recipes, bug poison, liver metabolism, socks, pictures, punctuation, Disney movies, Poopy, sledding, flowers, windshield wipers, backyards, scriptures, chairs (a little kid in primary said this on Sunday when asked what they were thankful for.  It's a good answer), quarters, gelato, Target, baseball, marriage, knees, salsa, large parking spaces, cleanliness, love.