- Warmth. Ah the Sweet Romance of a Girl and Her Heater. Last year was rough, sitting in the cold for hours every day with a broken 1950’s heater under my desk. This year I finally bought a working heater for my desk at work. It was only $20 from Target, so I was a little worried it might be an unreliable and dainty thing. A week later and I’m so happy with my little Holmes heater fan. I can set it to the temperature I want my cubicle to be and it will shut off when it reaches it. If the temperature drops, which it always does within about 10 minutes, the little heater turns right back on to keep me cozy. Now I don’t have to wear a big old jacket and scarf while sitting at my desk for 9 hours. The first time it turned on automatically to ramp up the heat, I smiled and smiled. The only problem is the lovely lulling sound it makes–it nearly puts me to sleep.
- Good Health. A successful surgery that has thus far bettered my life.
- Companions. Three healthy and goofy cats to keep us company.
- Love. A man that completely understands me. Mike gets my quirks, my needs, my fears, and my dreams. If I don’t want to do house work today, he doesn’t mind. If I run into a spider in the basement, he heroically defeats it for me. If I pour syrup on my eggs and potatoes, he finds it cute. When I just need a hug, he gives me one. He makes me laugh like a little girl and he sings with me in the car. The spark is still there, almost 4 years later. And to top it off, he’s hot–curl-my-toes and melt-me-into-a-puddle-of-romantic-butter hot. What more could a girl ask for?
- Shelter. We finally have a place to call home. And it has come together nicely. We worked hard to get it and hard to make it feel like home. Years of saving money and both of us climbing the totem pole at our jobs has made it possible. Now we can cozy up on our super-huge couch, sleep-in without an ounce of light seeping through the windows, have little get-togethers with lots of food covering our kitchen island and sidebar, do our hobbies in our own spaces, and hang up great decorations for the holidays. This year we had trick-or-treaters for the first time–that was exciting. We’ll be putting up a 7 1/2ft tree this Christmas, thanks to Aunt Carmela and our tall ceilings. There’s a fireplace when we get chilly in the evenings, and lots of fans for the summer. We have one awesome deck too with a grill for cooking (at last!). Now all we need is a fence to keep out the neighborhood dogs.
- Family–always there for each other. Although it seems more and more they are growing apart, doing their own parties. Just wish the parties were like the old days, when I was little: the arm wrestling, the pool table contests, the numerous rows of tables filled with cousins, aunts, and uncles, the topics of conversation that you wonder how they got started on, the green beans in marinara, the whopping mashed potatoes, the lasagna, the giant turkey that took a whole day to cook, the laughter. But they are still there with open arms, all of them. And I’m lucky that Mike’s side consists of all loving people–so loving that there are often a few extra mouths at the table even if they aren’t exactly family. Everyone is welcome. That is what it’s all about.
Of course there are so many more things to be grateful for, but these are what stand out the most this season.
