The Two Most Important Things

To round out November, I'm going to get a little sentimental. Just for a minute.

The two most important things I am thankful for. My kids and my life.

I KNOW I KNOW. I cheated. I already said my kids. Tough.

There are plenty of times where I am ready to curl up in the fetal position and just let the kids win. They can trash a house in 2.5 seconds. They have more endurance than I ever did, and they know what buttons to push to get their way. Even Charlie. When they cry, I often roll my eyes and want to run away. Because even when they are hurt, it is 5 seconds of "I'M HURT!" and 3 minutes of "I AM REALLY PISSED OFF ABOUT GETTING HURT!!" And I can't do anything about them being pissed off.

But they are the reason I get up in the morning. They are the reason I work, the reason I smile. The reason I breathe. They make me want to pull my hair out, and then they wrap their arms around me and I feel my insides melt. I want to bury my head in their hair and breathe in their sweaty/shampoo scent and just stay that way forever. I love watching them play with their cousins and learn new things and just...enjoy life. Whoever said that kids make you young again was totally right. They remind you what is good about your life, when things have gotten so complicated you just want to sell everything you own and move in with the Duggars.

(Why the Duggars, you ask? Because they appreciate life. They realize what is important...family and faith. And even if they are insane for having 20 kids, at least they got the appreciate life part right.)

Before I had kids, Fonz was my baby. He was the reason I got out of bed in the morning...because there was no one else to take care of him but me. He taught me so much. Especially in the first two years, I applied a lot of my dog training experience to raising my kids. (Only time will tell if that worked out.)

So my dog and my kids remind me to appreciate life. My life. My awesome fucking life. As much as I can bitch and complain about how much Workaholic works, and having to take care of our house and dog vomit and kid poop and going to the grocery store and not making dinner and my job and anything else I can find to find fault with, I have a pretty damn awesome life. NO ONE's life is perfect. NO ONE. No one is perfect. I bitch and moan about my overbite and how I need to whiten my teeth and lose 30+ pounds. Everyone has struggles and barriers and challenges. But outside looking in, I have a fantastic life. And I appreciate it. I really do. I am SO thankful for it. Sometimes all you need to do is step back and take a deep breath and let all the little things go. Don't let them matter. Because really, it is the big things (in small, kid sized packages) that make life worth living.  

So that is it. That is my 30 (29) things that I am thankful for.

Please be prepared for some major complaining in December and especially January, and be fully prepared to bitch slap me if I get too whiny.

What are you thankful for the most? Or the least?