Is your life what you imaged it to be when you graduated from high school?

Right now, your life is a certain way.

You may be five pounds over your ideal weight, or you might be sixty-four pounds over your ideal weight.

Your bank account may have a number in it followed by many zeroes, or it might be a zero or a negative number.

You may be single, happily married, unhappily married, or divorced.

Your life might not be what you imagined it to be when you graduated from high school.

When I graduated from high school in 1976, I thought I would be a painter, but I went and studied teaching. Then I switched majors and went to art school. Moved to Japan from Canada, then moved to The United States, married an American, had three children, and lived in The United States for the past 23 years as a resident alien.

I didn’t think I would have four miscarriages, debt, and live so far away from my brother and mother that it would take me six days to drive home.

There are some things in your  life you can’t change, and some things you can. 

You can pay off debt and be careful with your purchases. Do you really need a new Christmas dress? Wear last years dress. Wear last years suit.

You can eat less  and go for a walk. Start by walking to the end of your driveway.

I am married. I use to be single. When we were first married we went to a marriage counselor and asked if we should have married, and should we stay married.

What is your life like now? Is there something  you can change?

You can’t change everything.

But there is one thing you can always change. Your attitude.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

–Reinhold Niebuhr

Some days I don’t want to change my attitude. It is easier for me to whine and complain than it is for me to be grateful, and change my attitude.

Would you rather whine than change your attitude?

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
― Cicero

My life is not what I imagined it when I graduated from high school in 1976. But, I am thankful for what I have.

I am grateful that my husband Nick and I met, that he asked me to marry him, and that we are still married.

I am thankful for our three children and for our health. I am thankful my skin cancer was stage O when they found it last year. I am thankful for my writing friends I met through Tribe Writers, and I am thankful for the friends I have met in all the places I have lived, and for my friends in Pennsylvania.

I am thankful that I am painting now.

Just because I haven’t done something yet, doesn’t mean I still can’t.

One of the things I am most grateful for, is that hair grows. The day before graduation in 1976, on May 9th, I trimmed my hair and ended up giving myself a mullet.

What are you grateful for? Can you think of one thing? Can you think of ten things? Please tell me in the comments.
 

p.s. I am grateful my toys are coming alive at midnight in the month of December. Life is an adventure. You can follow the toys adventure on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/toycember.