be thankful.

almost daily i open facebook & get a visit from the green-eyed monster.  someone else gets engaged or books a dream vacation & i'm still single & paying off student loans.  it's not always easy to be thankful for what you have when everyone else has things that you want.  

i don't want to get engaged 2 times before i get married, i just want to get engaged once.  i don't want an extravagant wedding that costs more than my car, i just want a marriage.  i don't need an expensive vacation out of the country, just a couple days off will do.  i feel like these are simple requests, but they just aren't happening for me right now.  i have to constantly remind myself not to compare my life to the lives of those around me.  i have so much to be thankful for.

first, i woke up this morning.  that doesn't happen for everyone, everyday.  i have a roof over my head, food in my fridge & a dog who thinks i hung the moon.  i'm blessed to have two really good friends who have always been in my corner - joe & cookie.  i met joe back in 2005 as a freshman in college & i met cookie in 2009 as a first year grad student.  cookie, her husband rodney & joe are like family.

joe, me, rodney, + cookie 2010.                     homecoming 2009.                          road trippin' to indiana 2007.     

its not every day that you find people who will stand by you even when you're wrong, who will call you & say "i know you're angry at the world right now, but it's going to get better & i still love you."  these are the kind of friends you keep for life & i'm lucky to have found mine already.

dad, me, johanna + mom 2011.

i haven't always been able to say that i love & adore my family.  i'm so thankful that i can say it now.  my mom, dad & sister are my backbone.  my mom is still my biggest fan & my dad is the only person who can mend my heart when its broken.  my sister is my other half - i was lucky to be born with my soulmate.  when i needed to move 1000 miles away & start a life for myself, on my own terms, these are the people who packed up the u-haul, jumped in the car & drove me across the country.  i wouldn't be the person i am today without the love, support & understanding i've received from my family.

i am so thankful to have had some truly amazing experiences.  i was blessed to have the opportunity to live & complete an internship in new york city.  i'm so thankful that i was raised in a military home & moving was just something we did - change was just part of life.  i've been blessed to receive a bachelors & a masters degree, even if i will be paying student loans until i die.  i'm so thankful for those student loans, because w/o them i wouldn't live every single day doing something that i truly love doing.

my lovely co-workers 2013.                       beaver, me, + jason 2013. 

i'm thankful that i'm so adventurous & that i made the decision to move over 1000 miles away.  moving to arkansas has proven to be the best thing that i have ever done.  i was so terrified - moving to a new state & starting a new job in a place where i didn't know a soul.  i've learned more about myself since the great relocation of 2013 than i thought possible.  i've surprised myself.  i am so thankful to work with an amazing group of people, who not only work together but genuinely like each other & i'm so blessed to call them friends.  they have truly made arkansas feel like home & for the first time in a long time i feel like i fit.  this is exactly where i'm meant to be right now.


so the next time you open up facebook & see that someone bought the car you really wanted or took the vacation to the bahamas that you deserve, take a minute to be thankful for how amazing your life is.  you may not have the money to take elaborate vacations, you may not be married to the perfect person or live in the perfect house but there's a lot to be thankful for.  you're alive.  you're you.  somebody loves you.  that's enough reason to celebrate.