53 from the heart

October, 2012, signals my 53rd year. Humbling, I know. I have learned many truths during this sprint. My thankful list is long overdue.

1. I get to work at home, at my desk - surrounded by the things I love most - every single day.
2. He's the last sight at night, and my first sight each morning - the glory of second chances.
3. My children are living their dreams, not mine.
4. I can walk on two feet again.
5. My husband pushes me to follow my dreams.
6. Bear keeps me company while I sit at my desk. He never complains when I get to sip tea and he doesn't.
7.I have learned to make the perfect meatball.
8.When I'm thrust back into my past for a brief second, I'm so thankful I'm not living there.
9. I can make as many pots of coffee a day as I like, and every cup is mine.
10. God never left me.
11. Ty has figured out that the truly important things might take a wee bit longer to accomplish.
12. I had the best mama and daddy ever.
13. My mama taught me how to make homemade applesauce, sauerkraut and cat-head biscuits.
14. I finally get that doing the right thing is the only option.
15. God saw something in me worth saving.
16. My husband can do all those things that you normally have to pay repairman a ton to fix.
17. I made several steps toward squashing fear this year - small steps, but they're a start.
18. I have put most of the events in my life in perspective and left most of them in their proper place.
19. My ipod and all the Barry Manilow and Blake Shelton I can stand.
20. I can finally say I'm half-Italian.
21. My daughter actually likes to hang out with me - that is when she's in the same zip code.
22. Logan still hugs me - always.
23. I can laugh about the really sad things.
24. I have three sisters.
25. Thoreau got it right: simplicity.
26. I get to meet amazing people and become their storyteller.
27. I have a really cool boss who lets me vent and rant and write.
28. I have a horse (JACK) with a sense of humor.
29. My children transcended what fate threw at them and knocked it out of the park.
30. Sorry Thomas, but you can go home again - and I will.
31. I have a few good friends that have stood the test of time - and really, that's all you need.
32. I started life all over again - on my terms.
33. Dreams are freakin' amazing, and I will never stop - so there.
34. Starbucks still makes me think of New York City - and I close my eyes and travel there.
35. Mama's words teach me just as daddy's image on the sofa comforts me.
36. I'm not superficial.
37. I can still hold books and magazines in my hands.
38. As hard as it was, forgiveness allowed me to get on with living.
39. At long last, I don't really care what others think of me.
40. Not only can I make a fine meatball, but I make a killer homemade pizza. See, half-Italian.
41. I enjoy TV, my husband and quiet evenings. Not always in that order.
42. I grew up in Clarkesville, Georgia, a truly authentic Southern town.
43. I get to travel the world over and still ohh and ahh.
44. I went through the adoption process, opened records and finally understood.
45. I let go.
46. Sweetwater Brewery makes tasty liquids.
47.  My children still want to come home.
48. They do make cute shoes for old women - you just have to dig.
49. My daughter's unending advice: outside the box, mom. It's soooo hard.
50. I got to traipse through many cornfields with my daddy and go into the woods shopping for Christmas trees. How many kids can say that.
51. I have a front porch with rockers and that's where I go to do my best thinking.
52. I fell in love for the last time.
53. I'm right where I'm supposed to be.