30 Days of Thankful Day ONE prompt

Day One - Gratitude IS AN Attitude - at least I need to think of it that way. All too often I find myself in a state of mind where I feel absolutely overwhelmed by LIFE (an believe me my life is really not that difficult) and I loose sight of all the things in life that I should be truly grateful for. My good health and the good health of my children and grandchildren is NUMBER #1. The fact that I have been able to live where I wanted to live for many years, and that I live in a home I own free and clear and save for property taxes no economic circumstance should take my home away from me. That I have a job it these turbulent times something to be very very grateful for indeed. Yes I have much to be grateful for, and I think all too frequently I don't acknowledge how very blessed I am. So today I am embracing my gratitude and thanking God for all the blessings in my life.

I decided to go easy today, even though I had a few options to focus on. Option that I decided against: shopping. I could have used the grab bags I picked up at Michael's or the candy that I picked up at Walmart for half off, but I didn't think I wanted to use shopping as the opening to my album.

Instead, I took a ton of pictures of my kids playing on the playground before the bell at my oldest's school. I chose to focus on 'routine' for today. I am not one to drop everything to run to the park, but things changed this year in funding where schools (at least at the elementary level) are required to give every student the option to eat breakfast free of charge every morning. This means that campus opens up earlier to allow everyone a chance to eat without impeding on education time, so instead of dropping my son off and leaving, we all get out and play for 15-25 minutes (depending on how early we leave the house) before school. I love that they get to have fun running around every morning as a part of our morning routine since I'm not as likely to take them to the park behind our house during the day. It benefits everyone. My oldest is very active and the playing gives him the chance to expend some energy, then the younger two get to have a bit of fun interacting with other kids (my younger son is particularly shy and attached himself to one of my legs the first 2 weeks of school but is now playing with a few of the same kids most days) and I get some fresh air and bonding time with each of them because I am like a magnet to them...every few minutes, they come over to say hi or play around with me a bit before going back to whatever they were doing. It's a highlight of my day and I'm sure it's a highlight of theirs, too. When school started, the morning was the only time it wasn't too hot to play outside (1-teens by the afternoon) and it's only now starting to get cold in the morning.

I can even choose another route if I want to, based on the pictures that I took. My younger son loves being a big brother. My daughter doesn't really appreciate it (she prefers my older son because he can pick her up and do things for her that my younger son wants to do but isn't quite big enough to do), but he tries nonetheless. He will sit at the top of the slide and wait for her to climb around so he can try and get her to sit in his lap (when she refuses, he either has her go behind him and waits at the bottom for her or finds a way to get them to go down the slide side by side). So I can focus on that relationship, too, if I want. We'll see what inspires me when I choose my pictures.

I also like starting the album off with this prompt.
For me I think being grateful is taking the time to slow down and reflect on the people, places and things in your life that is a blessing to you. Sometimes I find even things I don't consider a blessing at first turns out to be blessings.