Simple Thanks

I’m thankful that I won’t be in charge of cooking a turkey.

I’m thankful for Z. Every day. I’m thankful for his extreme, baffling patience. And his consistent kindness. And that there are almost always flowers in our house because he gives them to me all.the.time. And that I’m living and traveling abroad with my best friend. It never stops blowing my mind. Also I’m thankful for how much he makes me laugh.

I’m thankful for Skype and FaceTime and email. My gosh, how did people survive anything before these technologies?

I’m thankful for our families. We really hit the jackpot and we know it. Our parents recently had lunch together and Zach commented “we are such a good match that even our parents get along” and that’s true. Z and I secretly hope our parents will become such good friends that we just start to merge all family events and end up having reunions with matching tshirts and personalized beach towels and grandbabies running around and junk food and happy chaos. Someone will have to own a beach house, of course. Plan accordingly, families.

I’m thankful for Google Translate.

I’m thankful for my job. Even though I think I was really getting the hang of being a stay-at-home wife. And even though I often lament the Pinterest projects I’m not accomplishing because I work. I mean, I would probably do some. Maybe.

I’m thankful for friends (you know who you are) who continue to email and Skype and iMessage even though we’re so far away. I don’t know what I’d do without you, I’m serious.

I’m thankful for the friends we’re slowly making here in Germany. I hope they stick around.

I’m thankful for Cheerios. If this list was in any type of order, this would be way closer to the top, but you know that.

I know that there’s a big focus on thankfulness in November because of the holiday, and that’s great. The truth is, one of the great and unexpected parts of this living-abroad experience is how aware I've become of things that I’m incredibly thankful for that I really didn't consider before. Things I took for granted that now are constantly in the forefront of my mind. So that one gets a double-thankful…I’m thankful for how this experience is expanding my view of the many things I have to be thankful for. I don’t take that lightly.