What are you thankful for? (3/90)

Perhaps this is cliché, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I feel it's appropriate to do at least one blog on being thankful (since I already missed one day and now need to write two today). At first I began writing a list. Then I realized how boring it was. Friends, family, the same stuff everyone else is thankful for. So then I began thinking, what am I thankful for and how is what I'm thankful for different from everyone else? And then it dawned on me, that it's not the things I'm thankful for, it's why I'm thankful for them that make them interesting. So I'm going try to compile a list, a list of memories and specific events in my life that have brought me to realize why I'm grateful for all of these things.

Hmm. Where do I even begin?

(In no specific order)
1. I was in sixth grade when I realized I no longer wanted to be a gymnast. I was tired of showing up to the gym and practicing the same routines over and over. I wanted to learn new stunts and try new routines; my coaches wouldn't let me until I had perfected the ones I was working on. Seeing that competitive gymnastics was not the sport for me, my dad encouraged me to take up running. So I signed up for the cross-country team for seventh grade and that summer was when I began training. Every week my dad would take me to the track and we would run whatever the coach had said for me to run. Stride by stride, my dad helped me go from running only one lap to twelve laps. Cross-country season started and I was hooked. From that moment on, I loved running.

My dad was no longer my coach, but he was always there for me. He made it to almost every meet, track or cross-country, from seventh grade until my senior year of high school. He was there to hug me when I did well and talk to me when I did poorly. My dad never once discouraged me. And this doesn't just apply to running. Every goal and endeavorer I have taken on my dad has been supportive. Now every time I come home we talk about running and he encourages me to go after my journalism dreams. I'm thankful for my dad for introducing me to the sport I love, and for always, always being there for me.

2. It started with making spaghetti and ended in a nursing home. Seeing my grandma's alzheimers progress was one of the hardest experiences of my life. From watching her lose track of time and seeming forgetful to forgetting my name and being unable to recognize my face, I lost her long before she died.

She was the grandma on my mom's side, so we would trek to Pittsburgh to see her. Each visit got harder and harder to take. The nursing home she lived in became hell on earth. The only way I can describe what it was like being in that place is that it felt like life was being sucked out of you. Literally. There is no joy visiting a place where everyone is waiting for their turn to die. It was a living nightmare.

Time after time I would visit with my mom and it never got easier. I watched my mom spoon-feed my grandma, brush her hair, hold her hand. My last visit there I suddenly realized the strength it took for my mother to visit her mom in such a state. To watch her slowly deteriorate and be unable to do anything about it. To be able to muster up the effort to drive 5 hours to care for her for only an hour or so opened my eyes to a side of my mother I had never seen before. My shy, conservative mother was suddenly the bravest person I knew. I am thankful for my mother for being the strong woman that I know and for showing/giving me her selfless love.

3. When I first arrived at Ball State one of the first things I did was go run. I didn't venture too far off-campus for fear of getting lost, so I didn't have a good idea of any places to go run. At one of the first run club practices I asked one of the members where I could get a good hill work-out in. He laughed. I said I was serious. He said he was too.

Muncie, Ind. is the flattest place on earth. Every time I come home now I never take the hills that we have around here for granted. I am thankful for any chance I have to run on hills.

4. This past summer I went to England for six weeks. It's the farthest I've ever been from home. With an ocean separating me from my boyfriend, my family, and my friends, I relied heavily on technology in order to stay in touch. It was one of the few times I didn't take having a cell phone or internet for granted. As much as I hate to admit it, I am thankful for technology.

5. This one could, and honestly, deserves its own separate post. There are so many memories I don't know if it's possible to pick just one to write about. So I won't. I am thankful for the amazing boyfriend I was able to snatch. Rarely does a day go by where I don't think about how lucky I am to have him.

6. At the end of my six-week endeavor in England our group hit a minor bump in the road. Continental airlines accidentally switched all of our flights to one of the girls in the group who extended her stay. Instead of leaving Birmingham on August 3rd, we were scheduled to leave Scotland a week later. Finding a flight back to America was a true pain in the ass, and considering I was homesick enough, this was not helping. Three days later I woke up at 3am England time and didn't arrive at the last airport until 10pm EST time. Almost 24 hours of being up and traveling. As much as I loved England, arriving in Newark, NJ was one of the happiest moments this summer. Although England wasn't a huge culture shock, I did miss America a lot. I am thankful to live in this country. Travel all over the world? Yes please. But at the end of the day, this is where I want to be.

7. Sometime when my friends and I get together we play a 20 questions game. But unlike original 20 questions, this game is just asking one friend 20 random questions we want to know. Usually the question, "What is one moment you wish you could live over?" comes up, or similar, "What's the happiest moment of your life?"

In 2006 I went to San Antonio with my church group for a one-week retreat. At the very end of the trip we went to the top of the Hilton hotel where you can stand on the roof. The trip itself was a blast. Few memories can compare to everything that happened. Sad that it was over I was incredibly grateful for everything the experience. As crazy as it sounds, being on the top of that hotel I had a moment of complete peace. I felt pure happiness. I felt the closest I had ever felt to God. I don't know how else to describe it. But I do know, that I am thankful for my relationship with Christ.

8. ABC parties. Movie nights. Ice-skating. Get togethers at starbucks. Getting chased by cops. Girls nights. Late night road trips. Pulling pranks. Shopping trips. Race weekends. Concerts. Hugs. Talks. Lots of laughs. I'm thankful for all of my amazingly awesome friends.

9. Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr. I'm thankful for my pets.

10. All the other things I need to mention: my car, running, writing, Ball State, Fairfield, New York, coffee, the people that inspire me, photos, music, memories, traveling, new opportunities, love, Big Bang Theory, and a gazillion other things.

Happy Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for?