Six YEARS of Thankfuls!

I've been SO EXCITED for the 6th anniversary of the Ten Things of Thankful, and then I was so incredibly busy this weekend and having oodles of fun that I almost forgot to write my post!

Six years ago, my bloggy (and in real life) friend Christine told me she had been asked to co-host a blog hop and would I PLEEEEEASE write a post and link up. I did, then was asked by Lizzi to join as a co-host a few months later, and now it's 179 thankful posts later, and I'm still here. Let's call that Thankful #1.

2. I can't explain what a close bond we all had as hosts. Lizzie did a great job of choosing the hosts, and occasionally (okay, often), it may have seemed as if the inmates were running the asylum. Video chats. Hijacking each other's comment threads. Elaborate celebrations (cake!). And we did it all from coast to coast and points beyond!

3. In six years of participating in the Ten Things of Thankful, we have watched each other's kids grow up, seen job changes, illnesses, deaths of loved ones, good times, bad times, and everything in between. If you don't think online friendships are legit, you would be sooooo wrong.

4. And were we just friends online? Heck, no! Many of us have met in real life!

With Lizzi and Christine in St. Louis.

With Christine in St. Charles

5. If you're feeling sorry for yourself, maybe had a bad week, sitting down at the computer weekly and finding 10 things you can be thankful for is cathartic. Try it and see!

6. I took a hiatus from writing regularly for a couple of years. My biggest fan, my mom, passed away nearly three years ago, and I lost my heart for writing for awhile. It was this blog hop that brought me back.

7. Hey, not only can you make new friends by participating in the Ten Things of Thankful, you sometimes find long lost relatives, right, Cousin Kristi?!

8. TToT-ers are notorious pet lovers.

9. Oh, if you're in a store and not sure which dress to buy *cough cough Sarah Summerlin cough cough*, you can count on a TToT-er to be available to give you an opinion! 

10. I am endlessly thankful for the fun and love and laughter and tears from everyone (and if I try to list everyone, I'll forget someone, but for starters, Lisa, Zoe, Wendy, Denise, Kristi, the other Kristi, Christine, Lizzi, Sarah) and the shot of testosterone provided by Clark. Long live the Ten Things of Thankful!

And now, for your reading enjoyment, my original TToT post, originally published June 7, 2013:

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My friend Christine @ A Fly On Our (Chicken Coop) Wall is the brand, spanking new co-host of a brand, spanking new link up, "10 Things of Thankful," the goal of which is to challenge us to find the joy in each day.  When we think about what we are thankful for, we are probably all guilty of looking mostly at the big picture: family, shelter, employment, food, health. But what about the little picture? What about the every day things that happen that, when you stop to list them, prove that life is pretty good? Here's my list of ten things that happened today* for which I can be thankful:

1. I am thankful that I'm not Rafael Nadal's wife mom housekeeper and have to wash these socks he wore to the French Open.

2. I'm thankful that I didn't backhand my 17 year old son when he went all know-it-all while packing for a one week mission trip to Colorado. And wasn't planning on taking more than one pair of jeans. And hadn't read the checklist of what to take for all the activities they would be doing (and, more importantly, what NOT to take). And wouldn't believe me when I referred to said checklist.

3. I am thankful that I made a trip to Walmart today and did not lose the car in the parking lot. This is an anomaly.

4. I am thankful that my husband agreed to get up with me at 5:30 (as in A.M.) every day this week to work out at the Y, and that he wants to go on Saturday as well. And that he admits I was right that, as trite as it sounds, it gets your metabolism going and gives you energy all day.

5. I am thankful that I am home during the summer and am able to take a nap during the day when that 5:30 workout hits me between the eyes and I can't hold them open any longer.

6. I'm thankful that my husband didn't seriously hurt himself when his socked feet slid out from under him while he was leaning against the sink this evening, eating homemade pizza (which was DELICIOUS - spinach, sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions on whole wheat crust).

Ouchie.

Mmmmm.

7. I'm thankful that he didn't get mad at me when I laughed, even as I was checking to see if he was okay. (It's a family trait that we laugh when someone falls, which is completely inappropriate,  I KNOW.)

8. I am thankful my parents bought too many freshly picked green beans and new potatoes at the old order Mennonite settlement's produce stand and shared them with me. I have a ham bone in the deep freeze that I've been saving for an occasion such as this.

9. I am thankful that Teri Biebel @ Snarkfest and Jenn @ Something Clever 2.0 have both favorited comments I made on Twitter, because it makes me feel like I'm all that (and also implies I know what I'm doing on Twitter, which, sadly, I don't).

10. I'm thankful for my sweet friend Christine @ A Fly On Our (Chicken Coop) Wall because she (1) always encourages me, (2) was brave enough to do this link-up, (3) writes posts that always get to me on an emotional level, from raucous laughter to tender tugs at my heart, (4) draws the best pig/elephants I have ever seen.  (I could list about a hundred more, but I don't want her to get all big-headed about it.)

*Okay, I fudged a little. #9 actually happened over the course of about a week or so. So sue me.

Ten Things of Thankful