A Thankful Heart

As Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, I realize I have so much to be grateful for. My list could go on forever, but there are some big things this year that I am especially grateful for....

The first thing I am grateful for is my family. It really took me a long time to realize what they really meant to me. I wish I had said thank you more or I love you more when I was closer and had the chance!! I really did not realize what what is front of me. They would drop anything for me and would sacrifice it all for me. Living 2,000 miles away from them really made me see it. I love them so much and I would not want to be in any other family. I am also so grateful for the chance I have this year to go home for Thanksgiving. I really hated being suck on a rock in the middle of the island last year. I am so grateful that I can go see my family this year and that I get to see all of my family this year. I never realized how much of a family Thanksgiving really was until I had to spend it completely away from my family and not with some of my best friends. The people you spend the holidays with really change your mood and perception and I am glad I get to be with the ones I love this year!!!!
I am also really grateful for my friends. This year has really taught me how to be a good friend. I know I have let down many friends in the past, but I am trying to fix that. I have always been someone who had very few really good friends instead of lots of just surface friends. Going away to college really taught me who was really my friend and who was not. I am grateful for everyone in my life and all they have taught me.I heard a quote the other day that went something like this.... "The friends you meet in college and still talk to in college are going to be your friends for life." I really think this is true!! If you really have been a true friend to me, distance did not matter because for some reason I never live in the same state as my best friend for a long time.
I am also grateful for the chance to go to college. Many people in the world cannot go to college because of many reasons and I always knew growing up that college was always in my future. It was never a maybe thing, but more of a question of where I was going to go. I wish I would have made the decision of what college to attend more carefully, but honestly I am finally okay with where I am at. I feel like I needed to go far away from everyone else I knew to learn and grow personally. I also needed to meet some very important people here that would change me for the better.
I am soooo grateful for having a house and a car here in Hawaii. Hawaii is not a cheap place to live in at all. I die almost every time I need to go to the grocery store. I had to go today and to buy a 24 ct Aleve and 2 Icy Hot back patches costs me $24......basically Hawaii is WAYYY overpriced. Having a car here is a luxury and I appreciate that my parents came over to help me find a car for now and when I do my teaching here. It comes in handy every single day and I love it!!! Someone once told me that my car was probably in the top five nicest cars on campus after the president of our school, his two vice presidents, and the boy who drives an audi. I am not saying I drive a porshe or anything extremely nice, but I do really have a nicer car and I take car of it like no other!!!

I am also sooooo grateful for my puppy dog Miles. She is the joy in my life right now!!! I love her so much and I miss her a lot here in Hawaii. When I pack up to leave or go anywhere, she really does get depressed and gives me this look of "you really are going to leave me behind?" and it breaks my heart. However, every single time I come back home, she goes insane and does not leave my side. I always loved that I could say bed time and she would run up onto my bed or I could say car ride and she would run to the door. She is my sleeping buddy and has her own blanket (or my old comforter that she chewed a hole in) on my bed and has her own pillow when she wants. She is so cute when she lays her head on the pillow and has her body underneath the blanket just like me!!!! Miles is my puppy dog and I love her. I miss her a lot and since I cannot call her on my phone, she is the background on my computer, my phone, and has 4 pictures on my wall.
I am grateful for so many things, but if I ever had to make a list...these would be some of the top things I am grateful for. I know I am forgetting many things, but this is a start. Some other simple things I am grateful for are:
-SLEEP and NAPS (if you know me, you know how much I love both of these)
-Slurpees
-My school and faith
-My Bed
-The chance I have to become whatever I want
-The chance I have to own a phone and laptop
-Warm Showers (I do not like the cold at all)
-The sun
-Dry Heat
-exercise and how happy it makes me
-and lots more....but i cannot think of any right now