Ok friends, it’s about to get a little bit more personal up in here…at least for this post.  And it’s going to get a little sentimental.  You have been warned…here goes.

I’ve been a bit of a Negative Nancy lately.  A Debbie Downer.  A – well, I don’t know what other cliched & acronymed names there are, but I’ve just more or less been a bit, well, melancholy.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

But no really, to a certain extent, there isn’t anything wrong with that.  It can actually be quite revitalizing, and I’ve made it my business to go about accepting this aspect of my personality (while assuring everyone else that there is a difference between reflective melancholy and clinical depression, and I know when I’ve crossed that line).  But that doesn’t mean it’s easy on the people in my life when I get into these states.  In fact, it’s truly one of the testaments to how much the people in my life love me that they put up with me in spite of – and often during – these moods.  It does not go unappreciated.

But that’s not the point.  The point is that I have been having one of those bouts recently, but it is quite impossible for me to stay there because I keep thinking of the wonderful things I have had and continue to be blessed with.  So while I know you’re probably tired of some of my lists (if there was to be any overarching theme to the chaos of my blog, it would probably be the fact that I articulate myself in lists) I felt the urge tonight to make a list of specific things in my life for which I am very, very thankful for.  This is somewhat akin to the idea of the Happy Book that my friends and I in high school briefly created for ourselves.  The Happy Book(s) were essentially notebooks, decorated in collage on the outside (mine was decorated by my incredible friend Hilary) and inside the owner literally just wrote a list of things that made them happy.  The list could include big-ticket items like, say, your family or an amazing opportunity, or simple things such as colorful post-it notes.  I still have my Happy Book, somewhere in the pile of notebooks I have packed up.  But while it might be worth digging out sometime in the near future, I’ll hit some of the highlights here for you tonight.

~ the opening credits to Big Love ~ button-down shirts ~ my family ~ studying abroad in Spain ~ fresh paper ~ laughter ~ Harry Potter ~ road trips ~ wine ~ dance parties ~ black and white photos ~ Living Parables ~ long walks ~ cards & notes ~ trees ~ soft blankets ~ chiropractors ~ music ~ spices ~ eyeliner ~ cuddling ~ hot showers ~ vacuumn cleaners ~ poetry ~ prayer requests ~ babies learning to talk ~ family meals ~ coffee cups ~ hoop earrings ~ the beach ~ bookshelves ~ Spanish ~ airplane rides ~ cheesecake ~ yarn ~ shampoo ~ quotes ~ old hymns ~ hamburgers ~ long phone calls ~ Arrested Development ~ portraits ~ calendars ~ green ~ singing ~ roses ~ hot chocolate ~ cooking ~ yoga ~ candles ~ the Psalms ~ new pens ~ co-workers ~ manicures ~ Panera’s broccoli & cheddar soup ~ penguins ~ tattoos ~ margaritas ~ eyelashes ~ naps ~ book stores ~ running ~ robes ~ other people’s stories ~ tobacco fields ~ porch swings ~ high school friends ~ weddings ~ new underwear ~ mountains ~ bobby pins ~ dry erase boards ~ ex-boyfriends ~ sweet dreams ~ over-the-counter medication ~ asparagus ~ youtube vides ~ dresses ~ memoirs ~ things that don’t kill you but make you stronger ~ city sidewalks ~ theatre ~ breezes

Well…that’s a good start.  So thankful for you

Tags: happiness, melancholy, Prayers, sentimentality, thankfulness

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 12:40 am and is filed under Family, Health, Mental, My Life, Prayers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.