Cherish

Sometimes, though not often enough, I take a step back, look at all that I have in my life and feel overwhelming gratitude for how lucky I am.

Sometimes, it's easy to focus on the little things that aren't perfect and dwell on those small negative elements until they become bigger than your reality.

Despite the difficulties that life has thrown at us in the thirteen years that we have been together, Adoring Husband and I are so lucky to have found each other and lucky to have had the opportunity to create a life that brings us such happiness.

We have our health. Aside from Adoring Husband dealing with Parkinson's and issues with his back and shoulder, he has overcome other major health issues, including cancer, a heart condition, high blood pressure and gord. We are working on, and improving our health every single day

We have healthy adult kids who seem to be thriving and creating happy lives of their own.

We have a few good, close friends that we know we can rely on in hard times (I hope they know they can rely on us too!) and with whom we've had a lot of fun and good times, creating lasting memories.

We live in a beautiful part of the country that provides peace and tranquility.

We own a lovely comfortable home which we built and decorated ourselves.

We are two very lucky humans!

You may wonder why I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy and sharing it here with you.

I've just had a glorious seven days with my little Chicklet and I cherish every moment that I get to spend with her. Even though she lives only 2.5 hours from here, it's still far enough that we can't have weekly dinners, or do regular grandparent/granddaughter stuff and I only see her once every 6-8 weeks.

I could have had twenty two full days with her, this trip, and that was my original intention, but I missed Adoring Husband, my home and my life so much, that I took the opportunity to come home for a few days while the Bare-chested Chef has a week at home on leave from work.

So, as much as I cherish my perfect little Chicklet, I also cherish the other parts of my life and I've figured out that there are only three things that will take me away from home and Adoring Husband for extended periods of time. The first is time with Chicklet, and the second is my annual road trip/holiday with BGWLBH and the third is when any of my kids are in need.

Nobody else on earth could offer me anything that makes me feel better than home does.

Dorothy was right. There's no place like home.

Nite all.