Grateful Sunday – January 31, 2021

I’m grateful I was able to take my older daughter down to southern California to meet her boyfriend’s parents. My ex and I weren’t comfortable with her taking the trip the first time on her own and I’m glad I had the time and ability to join her. I was able to spend one on one time with my daughter, had a delicious dinner and wonderful evening with her boyfriend’s parents, and was able to have alone time where I wasn’t focused on my job or household errands on my days off.

I’m grateful my younger daughter was able to spend ten days with her close friend and 2^nd family. She took a Covid test so she was allowed to stay there and I’m glad she had such a good time. I’m grateful that when her and her friend needed help with Physics, they Face Timed me and I had the time and ability to help them with their homework. After 30 minutes we figured it out and her friend’s mother has suggested that I’m now their official tutor. I’m up for the challenge.

I’m grateful my trip in southern California allowed me the opportunity to spend a day with a close friend from my writing group. She’s also a member of my accountability group from Tommy Rosen’s 8 Week Awakening Course we took together six months ago. I’m so glad our accountability group still connects a couple times a month or when we need each other through the challenges life brings. I’m grateful for my friend who moved a couple thousand miles to California to be closer to her daughter in addition to helping one another grow from the pain of divorce. We had an incredible afternoon celebrating her upcoming memoir, a two-hour hike, and a delicious Thai lunch, talking non-stop for over five hours. I’m grateful that through the pandemic, I’ve been able to meet some pretty amazing people and build new friendships and connections.

I’m grateful the park where my friend and I ended up hiking was under the approach path to aircraft landing at Bracket Field. So many memories come back from that busy airfield when I think back to my career 24 years ago. It took me five years to have the confidence to step outside my comfort zone, let go of all the excuses, charge a credit card, and do 22 hours of flying plus ground instruction in five days to prepare myself for my Certified Flight Instructor oral and practical exam. That was the stepping point to what has been such a glorious career and so many fond memories as I helped people’s dreams of learning to fly come true.

I’m grateful I had the flashback to what we can accomplish when we put aside our doubts and fears and just take the leap. The timing was perfect as I was preparing a bio about what I wanted to say about myself with my submission to a book on epiphanies that a bunch of us are self-publishing. I have no idea how well a book written by a group of authors who have come through recovery of different addictions will be received and yet I’m grateful for taking the courage to step into the unknown.

I’m grateful for my writing group’s end of the month Friday reading. So many talented authors in this group and their stories are so memorable and riveting. Such inspiration comes from their Rising from the Ashes experiences.

I’m grateful I was able to meet the agreed date to clean out my ex and my storage unit before the end of the month. Even though we had agreed we’d add an additional month to get everything accomplished so I had the time to take my daughter on her trip, I really wanted the feeling of finishing something I had planned to have done last summer. I’m grateful all my boxes are in my garage and I can go through them on my own time in my own house.

I’m grateful for another trip to Hawaii. There’s something so magical and peaceful being on the islands. I’m also grateful that my trip flying eastbound was last week prior to the weather system that has dumped so much snow in the Midwest and East Coast. Speaking of snow, I can’t wait to see the pictures of my roommate’s little boy as he experiences snow for the first time this weekend.

I’m grateful for two consecutive weeks of once again tracking my food. I was doing so well this past summer, then have allowed my sugar cravings to take over and have gained weight these past few months. I’m grateful I know what it takes to get back to my healthy target and so grateful that some of the hotels I’m staying at have gyms that are now open. I’m also glad when I decided to go on a run this week, stepped out of the hotel and saw the huge hill that covered the path I had planned to go on, that I didn’t ditch the idea and took on the challenge anyway.

Speaking of challenge, I’m grateful to have survived an ab/squat monthly challenge with my good friend and yoga partner which ended with 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 70 leg raises, 250 squats, and a 3-minute plank (all accomplished under 20 minutes). I’m also glad I didn’t start by looking at what I was going to do at the end of the month because I may had given up before the challenge even started!