grateful

Sitting out back with Hubs listening to the sounds of this early fall morning was such a refreshing start to the day.  The ducks and geese calling to one another as they are heading to warmer ponds.  You can barely make out the dark shapes in the sky, yet their call is echoing loudly. 

In the distance is the sound of the early morning trains, all of them seem to hit that part of the raised bluff between four and six each morning.  Last weekend we were at the site of the original tracks and the tunnel through the bluff, from when the Pacific was new.  It's now moved a short distance away, abandoning the tunnel. 

We were looking at the stars and planets, they seem to get more profound as the year has moved on.  I have seen several shooting stars in the past month.  In fact standing on this same deck on Wednesday night talking to my mom and watching the sky grow into the deep velvet that comes with the changing season I was blessed to watch one flash across the sky as it burned out. Seems I always see them in the direction of my daughters house.  I saw the last one while driving down there to pick up the baby a couple weeks ago. Today, we noticed how brightly several were sparkling.  Like diamonds, shimmering far off in the distance.  It was peaceful to enjoy. 

This week has been draining.  I can't believe that Friday has actually arrived.  I've been multi-tasking in the extreme and it is not my default method of working.  It drains me, stresses me out.  I am a linear person.  One task at a time, through to completion. But life lately has a way of testing all of us.  This week was a test for me. Trying to complete my own tasks, cleaning up the chaos left by a departing staff member, dealing with the hurt feelings caused by the chaos.  It's been a long and rough one. 

Yet Friday arrived, like it always does.  

This year alone has been brutal and draining.  Hubs and I both have so much vacation that we are trying to use up.  So today when I close my laptop, water my office plants and head home it will be for a glorious 9 days with Hubs and family. 

It will be a time of planning for the official start of the holiday season, I have to admit all the folks that have already started decorating have filled my heart with such joy.  Normally, I'm in the wait for Thanksgiving group, this year, driving home at night and seeing all of the lights and sparkling trees has filled me with hope. A hope I think I have needed. I am sure we will start decorating and wrapping a few presents up. 

It will also be a time to celebrate family near and far.  Our boy won't be home, but I am hoping to actually talk to him for the holiday. We are planning an adventure with the girl and her kiddo's.  Not sure if it will be all of them or just the girls.  And we are going to spend time getting to know Hubs' oldest and her family.  

A couple of months ago I got a text that took my breath away, for a moment.  Since September we have been on an interesting journey to say the least. I think I have talked about Ancestry a few times and a quest for more knowledge of the past.  Truthfully, I did not expect it to bring more recent stuff forward, although life being what it is, it definitely has done that.  I have had the blessing to meet a cousin I didn't know, but more recently we have been blessed to find that sweet Hubs had another daughter. Even without the DNA (which we have) you can tell by their smiles and loving spirits that they are blood.  

In the blink of an eye, through a Facebook message our family grew.  More to love and cherish! In a strange and wonderful way we now have another daughter, son-in-law and 5 more grands (some of which are married).  We've met the three youngest, not the oldest.  I see so many incredible traits that match my sweet Hubs in his daughter and 2 bio-grands.  Those genes are strong! They have the same smile and sparkling eyes.  And frankly that wicked sense of humor was not something I was expecting to be hereditary. 

We are blending our already very blended family even more, we are celebrating it all.  We are so very blessed. In our family - yours and mine equals ours.  We never had children together, yet here we are with a wonderful loving clan.  

This holiday season will be different, for many reasons.  Despite the state of the world, God has blessed us fully.  I am looking forward to spending time with our amazing family.  Having adventures with the girls & grandson, being part of sweet Hubs getting to know and love his oldest and the "newest" grands, missing my sweet boy and his girl - while figuring out ways to connect with them.  All while living my best life with my best friend!

Stress doesn't stand a chance when there is so much to be grateful for!   I guess I was feeling a bit sentimental as we head into the week of Thanksgiving.  Normally my Facebook feed is filled with everyone saying all the things they are thankful for, this year it's been oddly silent.  And sitting out back, drinking coffee and watching the sunrise, my heart was filled with joy.  I have so much to be thankful for.  And so many things to celebrate.  

I hope that each of you also have blessings, the gifts you have been given that you can take out of your heart and hold close, to remind you that even when things are stressful, tiresome and just plain soul wearying you are blessed!