I am so great... I mean grateful.

Hello hello my fellow life travelers!

If you haven't noticed already, there is a countdown on the left of this post until I officially move to Chicago! I can't believe it's happening. It started out as a little girl's dream that one day she would live in a big city, and in (place current count down number here) she will!

As much as I wish time would go by just a little bit faster, I don't want to end up in a position where everything just flew by me and all that is left are fading memories of the greatest days of my life.

Today I decided to write down a few things that I am grateful for. Everyone should do this exercise, whether you do it every night or once a week, you should make an effort to pick up a pen and a piece of paper or a notebook and write down all the things you are grateful for. You don't want to be the person that knows the value of what they lost, after they have lost it.

I'm going to try to write down a few things that other people can relate to.

What I am grateful for (in no particular order):
1. An education - My parents didn't have to give me an education as far as they did. Given it is required by law that all children go to school, they didn't have to pay for my college education and push me to educate myself for my own sake.

2. Family members - As much as they can be a pain in your feather pin (Tweety Bird reference), they mean you well (for the most part). Not all family members, but most of us can count on our immediate family to provide us with (tough) love and well wishes. Yes, you will fight and yell and want to pack your bags and leave, but if they really didn't love you, you wouldn't be where you are now, that is to say you are in better position that Tweety here.

3. A bed / sleep - I assure you that everyone of you is grateful for this, unless it is infested with bed bugs. Shared or not, it's what keeps you alive and rejuvenates you to keep you going everyday.

4. Your friends / significant other - Whether you have a significant other is not what is important. It's about who is willing to love you and care for you. We don't function very well in isolation, so be thankful that you have people who keep you sane (or not).

5. Feelings - The ability to feel emotions such as happiness, love, and all those other wonderful feelings is something we should be grateful for. There are things we take for granted, and this is one of those things.

6. Food! - We are so lucky to have food to eat anytime we want and to be able to buy the not only the food that we need but food that we want as well. We get to sleep with full tummies every night and wake up to the thought of a balanced breakfast. Not everyone in the world can afford food like we do.

7. Our present day technology - Through the ingenious work of scientists and engineers and people who realized that necessity is the mother of invention, we have been able to make our lives easier and easier everyday. We have the ability to learn online and research any topic that interests us through sites like Google. It's not often that we thank our stars for the technology we have like cars, phones, computers, etc. But we owe a lot of what we know today to those people that took the initiative to do what others couldn't.

8. Police, EMT, firefighters & doctors - Without the help and protection of these people, we wouldn't live to the average age that humans currently do. A lot of people may hate cops, but they are doing their duty to keeping citizens within the limits of the law. In the past so many people have suffered with ailments and other issues such as fires and accidents due to the lack of organization of hospitals, police stations, etc. I know that it's sometimes hard to accept this due to terrible things that can happen to loved ones, but remember that these people didn't decide to take a normal 9 to 5 job and come home to their family like everyone else. That's pretty noble don't you think?

9. Books - Books are something I'm really grateful for. It's so incredible how a book can take you out of everything you know and put you in a world and through adventures and knowledge that keep us learning something new everyday.

10. Jobs / Job opportunities - As much as people say finding a job is hard, a lot of us find it fairly easy to pick up a job and complain about it. We are so lucky to have any job opportunity because without it, we wouldn't the money to get what we want and take care of ourselves and the people we love.

There you have it, a basic list of the things I am thankful for. I hope you found that you are thankful for these things as well and more! 

I hope you decide to write a journal about everything you grateful for, even the little things like gum or dust bunnies. I don't know why any of you would be grateful for dust bunnies, but if that is what you are grateful for, write it down!

To answer the question from the last post: My favorite book(s) growing up were the HARRY POTTER series!

The reason why this was my favorite book growing was was because when I was about 7 years old, I was in a Marshal Fields sitting with my parents while they bought furniture for our new house. I was so bored but I didn't complain, but my mom went to a book store that was inside the store and she picked up this book, wrote in it and handed it to me. It was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I fell in love with it and it's what pushed me to keep reading. I actually struggled with reading for a long time, and this was a book that made me understand the joys of reading. Thank you, mother & thank you, J.K. Rowling.

This week's question: 

What is one thing you are grateful for?

Answer in the comment box below! 

Be good. I hope everyone is having a super duper summer! Much love.