Thankfulnessability or gratitudinous

Ten things I am grateful for (and I'm gonna try to be honest and serious, instead of being silly, like being thankful for children who misbehave because then I can meet the recommended daily allowance of yelling for 10 minutes at 110 decibels, which allows a parent to operate under the illusion that they are really in charge)

1.  ...........

It's hard to be serious.

Really. Everything I come up with devolves into some sort of joke. Either that or what I'm thankful for sounds trite.

Of course I'm thankful for my family. Most everybody is. They bring happiness and joy and (and here I start to think "and blah blah blah, it's all been said before, even though it's true")...

I'm grateful that the big boys got up and went to play football. Why? Because they are doing something they will remember as "having had a good time" for the rest of their lives. They are practicing being adults, living without their parents. And I am practicing letting them go. It's a good thing. Sure it's a little sad that the little boys I once had aren't around anymore (and the big boys don't like to think those little boys ever existed), and I wish I could hug those little boys once more, but I'll be fine even if my wish couldn't possibly come true. I am grateful that those little boys did disappear and were replaced by these hulking figures sprawled on my couches. How sad it would be if those little boys never got to grow up.

I'm grateful that sometimes my children don't take my advice. Why? Because it means they will be independent someday and I have managed to avoid raising little "me" clones. Plus, I'm not always right. They may not be right either, but without mistakes, very little learning happens.

I'm grateful that the worst injury I suffered this year was a sewn finger. I have some lingering nerve damage, but nothing that drives me crazy.

OK this is getting a little easier, but the urge to be facetious is still VERY STRONG.

I'm grateful that there is a word "facetious." Without silliness, I would find this existence very boring. I'm grateful for laughter.

Is it legal not to give thanks for one's spouse? (ok I'm indulging in a little bit of waggishness) Jim has always been here. We haven't always agreed on things, but he's been here to disagree or agree or clarify or show his ignorance. He's been here. He hasn't ever left. I can't really put into words how much that means to me. I will just say it again. He has always been here, and I only just now learning what it means to know that he always will be here.

I am grateful for daughters. They've never been "pink and frilly girly girls" but I needed to have these two here in my house for as long as they were and are here. I hope they need each other as much as I needed my own sister (to fight with, to commiserate with, to roll our eyes at each other, to lose horribly at Monopoly to Julie together, on occasion to be surrogate parents to the boys together, to roam parking lots looking for change and bottle caps together.)

I'm grateful for difficult times. They've flavored my life. How bland would my life have been without bullets to dodge (OK, I've never dodged a bullet. But I have dodged a moving vehicle. That was scary).

And I'm grateful for Matt. Sometimes I don't know why, but I am.

Now that I'm on a roll, it's hard to stop. But I'm going to, right....now.