Gratitudes

I think everyone knows that I believe 2013 is the Year of Suck. It's pretty much universal with everyone I know. 

However, just because this is my truth doesn't mean I am not grateful each and every day. Though I haven't daily posted my gratitude, I've tried to list more than 30 things right here and right now that I feel grateful for each and every day.

I am grateful for having basic necessities. A warm comfy bed, a roof over our heads, jobs that keep the bills paid and food in the pantry. Because we haven't always had that.

I am grateful for small, simple things. Coffee that gets me through the day. Tissues that don't make my nose hurt. A cell phone that works better than most of the computers I work on.

I am grateful for those who give without asking and who take without expectations.

I am grateful for the seasons, sunsets, sunrise and the promise of each new day.

I am grateful for the people in my life. A husband who makes me laugh, not cry. Parents who love me and still think of me as their child. Friends who know just what I need to hear and aren't afraid to say it.

I am grateful for everyone who moves through my life. Because even when people hurt me, disappoint me, anger me or betray me, they are helping me grow and learn and get through this journey toward being a wiser, more understanding human. And those who bring me joy make me a person worth knowing.

I am grateful for science and medicine and doctors and research. Competent professionals have saved my mother's life this year, kept me from getting strep another 7 times this year and eased the pain of other family members this year.

I am grateful for new friends who know the real me and get me. I am grateful for how comfortable I feel with them because of that, and how I can act, say and do everything that is just me.

I am grateful for my sense of humor. Because many times this year, being able to laugh at everything I was going through was the only thing that kept me going.

I am grateful for my ability to read. Being able to create a world inside your head from words on a page is, to me, the most amazing thing. Reading has gotten me through some rough times, helped me pass long, boring weekends, helped me be a better person, helped me become a more informed person and allowed me to do my job.

So, yes, for this and for so much more, I am so grateful. 

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.I know I personally will NOT be leaving the house on Black Friday. Rather, I'm going to be as lazy as humanly possible. Because, y'all. I have the day off work.

Truth in Advertising

I really think I use the "LOL" way too much. Seriously. I think all these abbreviations and emoticons are causing us to bend reality just a bit. I came to this realization when I was reading a blog post today that really, truly made me laugh. Loudly and uncontrollably. Suddenly LOL just didn't seem enough anymore.

I realized that sometimes I read something that will make me smile. Sometimes it causes me to do that silent laugh thing. And occasionally I will do a soft chuckle. But rarely do I EVER truly laugh out loud. And I will still comment "LOL". So is it a lie to post LOL? When I didn't really laugh out loud? It is definitely an exaggeration. Or am I just overthinking?

I think I am going to lobby the general public for a couple of additions to the internet vernacular:

SLTS (Silently Laughing to Self)
YMMS (You Made Me Smile) or maybe just MMS (Made Me Smile)
GFAC (Good for a Chuckle)
RDLOL (Really Did Laugh out Loud)
MMLAS (Made Me Laugh and Snort)
JCSL (Just Cackled So Loud)
SCOMM (Spit Coffee On My Monitor) or the alternate SCOMN (Spit Coffee Out My Nose)

Anyway, spread the word. I am launching a one woman campaign for Emotional Truth on the Internet. There will be a day. Maybe even a telethon. It will be huge. Al Gore is at the ready. So is Brad Pitt.

PS–Can you tell I am doing some serious procrastinating ?

Shout Out to Peaches!

Hubby sent me this email from work yesterday:

"So I'm sitting here working and Amy (his buddy at work) is reading and all of a sudden she breaks out in hysterical laughter. I'm like "WTF?" and she looks at me and says "Did you REALLY drive back here from PA with a frozen cat in your car??"


Yes, Amy, I am sorry to say we really did. He was in a Styrofoam cooler and we had to duct tape the lid down because he was a bit too big for it to close all the way down. But that is another story.


Then this message comes:
"She said to tell you that you have officially made her a "Follower".  And that she has never been a one of those ever in her life..."


Well, honestly, neither have I. Ever, and it has caused me a lot of heartache sometimes but overall, I highly recommend not being a follower. Unless it is a follower of my blog! **shameless self promotion goes here**


So, I just want to give a shout out to "Peaches" and thank her for conforming just a little to click "follow" on this blog. And thanks to all my followers, they are few, but totally awesome, all of them. Sarah L., who is one of my top 4 or 5 women for inspiration on how to live life (if I could just get it through my head). Hubby, always supportive and loving. My friend Kaye from MTSU who is hilarious and awesome (still waiting for that double date, KayKay!). My cousin Susie (Mitch's really but I call her mine too) whose name isn't really Susie but I call her that anyway. She is my weight loss inspiration and I also LOVE her Petey blogs. James K., former scooter buddy, Master of the Internet, and "big guy on campus" (he's also very generous). And last, but not least, my cutest follower (sorry honey) and the only 9 month old I know with her own blog, Eva Tensing Fischer. (Although my suspicion is that  mommy and daddy are reading Tinfoil Magnolia as bedtime stories, right?!) Check her out if you want some sweetness overload, she is Beeee-uuuuuu-tiful.


I appreciate everyone who reads and follows. I know there are many others who read as well who aren't followers. And that's...OK. Like I said before, I am not sure I have anything to say worth listening to, but this is a totally fun outlet and I am enjoying it immensely. 


So, who do I follow? Well, as we speak my Reader is full of blog updates on the 40 or so that I follow regularly. If you want to read someone who is totally laugh out loud funny, one of my favorites is Stephanie Snowe, who is a hilarious, raucous, beautiful, brutally honest person (and writer)(and mom)(to twins, no less). At least that's the impression I got in the 15 minutes I actually met her in person. Maybe it's just FaceBook that makes her seem that way! She has a wonderfully unique parenting style and tells it like it is. Oh, and she also has a book. With it's own website (love the site design and the book cover design by the way). Check her out, too.

Hey, Brownie, will you shave my armpits for me?

Today I had the most screamingly hilarious lunch, sans alcohol, that I've had in a long while. These women who have allowed me into their friendship with open arms are some of the funniest I ever have know. As someone who is used to always being the "funny one" in any group I'm in, it is such a relief to be entertained so well, and to have people in my life (other than the hubs) who actually get my sense of humor.

I remember when we first moved to Pennsylvania, almost 4 years ago. I felt so lost and alone, so different from everyone there. I didn't know what to do or where to go to meet people. I didn't know my way around, or even what I would do if I did find something somewhere. I had a great group of friends in Nashville and I missed them all so much, even the few who I didn't see every day were an important part of my life. I spent the first six months of PA life in a consistent daily calling circle made up of my mom, my two best friends at the time, and my former boss. Bless their hearts, if they didn't hear from me by lunchtime they would pick up the phone and call to make sure I was OK. I truly do not know how I would have made it without them and their daily phone calls. Despite this lifeline I quickly fell into a serious depression.

I remember one cold Friday night in, like, May hubby and I went out to a local bar to have beer and wings. There was a table at the back of the room with about 9 women crowded around it. They were laughing, drinking, and basically having a good time and being loud. I was overcome with sadness about not having any girlfriends to spend time with, being so far away from home, and just what I was missing being so far from home. It just killed me because no matter how much you might love your husband, you gotta have your girls. Apparently I couldn't stop looking at the table full of women laughing and having fun because eventually hubs asked "Do you wanna just go over there, or are you gonna quit staring anytime soon?" And I did. I did want to go over there. So. Bad.

There were times in Pennsylvania that I thought I might never get home, home being anywhere that I had friends and people who understood me. Despite that, I said to myself every morning when I got up "I think of this as a temporary exile." I am so glad that is what it turned out to be. I accomplished many things while I was there, and for those things I am grateful. I got my Associates in Graphic Design, I got help for my depression through talk therapy with a wonderful counselor (which it ends up I should have had years ago anyway), I met some very interesting people, and I got to see NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other NorthEastern cities for the very first time. But the best thing I got in Pennsylvania was getting the hell out of there.

So when I came back to live in my hometown after being away for a total of something like 20 years, I was afraid I would go through the same thing with finding friends here. However, I have a group of ladies who have accepted me with open arms because (initially I am sure) of their relationships with my best friend-from-forever and my sister-in-law. But truthfully, I think they let me stay around because they like me, and I bring something of my own to the group. Either way, I am forever grateful to have all of them in my life, and I owe them a million thanks for making me feel so welcome that it feels like I've been here forever. Amy, Brownie, Pam, Debbie, Jerilyn, Rachel and Sharon thanks for a fun lunch today, and thanks for being my new besties! I have the most fun with ya'll no matter what we do, and besides that you are the only people in the world who have stories that can make MY family look like the normal one on the block!