Thankful

My king size bed arrived today and is all set up. I went to K-Mart to buy some new sheets and pillows and as I was leaving there was a man taking donations for the mentally challenged for Thanksgiving. I gave him a 20 dollar bill and began to think of what I was thankful for.

It's true I've faced more in my 21 years than most people twice my age have. It has provided me with a growth few people get this young, though. I have learned not to take things on face value and to follow the heart and brain in most matters. I have learned that truth is different to each different person and that the challenge is to find your own truth.

I am thankful that I have experienced all I have, be it the good, the bad and the horrendously ugly. I am thankful that I have been given the talent of being able to express my self in words. I am thankful to be in a country where most of us are given so many rights. I am thankful to my father for teaching me many things (and he continues to teach me, years after his death). I am thankful that he left me with virtually no worries about money. I am thankful that I have people who care about me. I am thankful that I have fallen in love twice. I am thankful I have a dog with such a great personality and brain. And, I am thankful to be me.

I'll end this one with a quote from H.W. Beecher, it may not be on the topic of thankfulness, but it's a quote I'd like to include: "What the heart has once owned and had, it shall never lose."