On the road less traveled, 13 year old FBI agents and other stuff I'm happy about..


In past Novembers I made a habit of posting 5 things I was grateful for every day of the month. This always made November my favourite blogging month because it's just so much fun to reflect on everything that is awesome about your life.  

Lately, I've  tried to make a habit of doing that when I wake up. I have an active and often difficult, troubling and disturbing dream life which means that I'm not always feeling swell when I first wake up. When I remember the dreams it's easy to start ruminating and getting lost in sadness or trauma and it's an awful way to start the day. I've actively started replacing negative thoughts with thoughts of people I love, funny interactions I have had, sweet little moments between my kids, whatever comes to mind when I direct my head in that direction. The more I do it, the more natural it becomes. But it's still so nice to have it on record and to share these things from time to time.

I''m not sure if I will do the 5 things on the blog every day of this month because I have so many other things I want to post about this month. We will see. But here are 5 things I'm grateful for today:

People who love me at my worst. This has been a tough week for me and I have had some truly monstrous moments. When I am experiencing a PTSD setback and I am triggered and act awful, nobody could hate me more than I hate myself. It's a terrible feeling and could easily spiral into a cycle of self loathing and hopelessness. But I am so incredibly lucky to have true blue, ride or die people in my life who are gracious enough to ride out the storm with me even when it's blowing straight into their faces. To be loved when you are being completely crazy and unlovable is the most healing thing I know of and is something I do not take for granted.

Every time I take the road less traveled 
I saw this scene in the woods when I went running yesterday. My run finally took place after an endless internal struggle  followed by a comedy of errors, stomping around the house in trying to find all the gear I needed (it turned out I was wearing it all along) and the line from Robert Frost's poem immediately came to mind.

You guys, its so much easier not to do the hard things, not to stick with the program, to give up on on dreams because of the daily grind required to accomplish them. And every time time we do the harder thing we are taking the road less traveled and it really does make all the difference.  I'm so grateful to be in a place where my choices are once again my own. That I have the power and strength to push through the resistance is such a huge gift, so hard won through such a hard fight by so many people on my behalf.

Magical little moments when Ella brings me a book that she has written and put together regarding the joys of it being November 1st. There is just so much to love about this and it's hard to remember anything else not being completely perfect when I am present to this type of goodness.


A 13 year old son who took on a mammoth sink load of dirty dishes completely on his own initiative while I lay in bed sleeping off my body's attempt to get sick this afternoon. (I will not get sick because my 13 year old let me sleep and did the dishes and getting sick after that would be the epitome of ingratitude.  Also, he had the best Halloween costume ever as an FBI agent making the type of arrest dreams are made of.


Ongoing traditions and people to share them with. As the kids get older, the traditions evolve slightly but it's a credit to the organizers of these events and the friendships we have formed that the seniors in high school show up to hang out and hand out candy just as predictably as they did when we were pulling them door to door in wagons.  This is a beautiful thing and I am so grateful and moved that my kids have had the safe happy childhood that they have enjoyed thanks to this village.


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1 comments:

John Parsons said...

WE LOVE YOUR BLOG POSTS! WE TRULY DO! Signed: Your BFF Always and All Ways, Clarence.