Thankful for Life and Letting Go......

A few days ago, I found a little piece from a book online. I am unsure where it came from, but thought it was a powerful piece. It states: "Imagine this: If you had $86,400 in your account and someone stole $10 from you. Would you be upset and throw all the remaining $86,390 away in hopes of getting back at the person who took your $10? Or would you move on and live? See, we all have 86,400 seconds in each day. Don't let someone's negative 10 seconds ruin the remaining 83,390. Don't sweat the small stuff, life in bigger than that."

Letting go of the small things is something I have struggled with my entire life, especially as I grow older. If someone does something that irritates me, I feel that it takes days and lots of venting to get over it. Something so small can engulf my entire day. I have known that this is a bad way to live and have made little effort to change it, but after reading this, it put it into perspective for me. People may say things that frustrate you or make you sad, but there is no reason that one comment should ruin your entire day.

Though Thanksgiving was yesterday, I wanted to write a little about what I am thankful for this year, because I have a lot to be thankful for.

First of all, in regards to letting go, I am thankful for all the people who have provided me support and love through my 21 years of life. No one is perfect, and though I may have made you sad or upset you in the past, thank you for forgiving me and still loving me. Thank you for letting go and moving on.

I am also thankful that I found this little piece because it has helped me realize that life is short enough and there isn't time to hold grudges or get hung up on a stupid comment.

Of course, I am thankful for my family and everything they have done for me. I feel that I have been closer to my family this year. I have work and school and stress, but at the end of the day, it is nice to know that they are there for no matter what.

Forest is someone who I am incredibly thankful for. I don't know what I would do without him. This year we have gone through another year of schooling, we got engaged, we planned a wedding, we went to Thailand, and now we are heading into our last semester of college and getting married in just 6 months. Forest has not only emotionally helped me get through college, but he has also academically helped me (with math) and I am forever grateful for that. He is taking crazy hard classes and participating in 100 extracurricular activities, yet he still found time to be there for me and support me. In May, we got on a plane and flew for 18 hours across the world to Thailand. Forest somehow navigated us around and did a phenomenal job. If I went alone, I promise I would still be in Bangkok on a bike trying to find our hotel. In April, he asked me to marry him and it was absolutely the easiest thing I have ever said yes to. There is no doubt in my mind that I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with him, and I am so very thankful to have found him and spent the last 4 1/2 years with him (and many more to come).

I am also grateful for my education. In high school, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I was teaching preschool and was sure I wanted to go down that path until college orientation when I realized everyone I knew, and all the people I didn't know were going into the medical field. My parents were both nurses and I started wondering if that was what I should do. I shadowed my dad (a CRNA) and it wasn't for me. I shadowed a physical therapist and decided I didn't want to do that either. I felt very lost and decided to start taking business classes with no plans of a future career, until one night, I remembered how much I loved teaching and started shadowing a teacher. I have worked my butt off to catch up after a year and a half of medical field classes, but after 2 summer semesters and a 20 credit hour load last Spring, I am proud to say I will be graduating with my elementary education degree in May. This year, I have been teaching in a first grade class on Monday and Tuesday and in January, I get to take over full time. I love teaching and I love kids, so I am feeling thankful that I found my way back to education.

I am also thankful for my current job. For the last 2 1/2 years, I have had the opportunity to work for my aunt and uncle at their meat company (Majestic Meat). Working for them has been amazing. Not only have a gotten to learn a lot about meat (which is awesome because I love to cook), but I also have had to opportunity to build an great relationship with my aunt, uncle, and cousin that I didn't have before. In 4 short weeks, I will be turning my job over to go teach, which makes me really sad, but I am excited for this new chapter in my life and also, Majestic Meat will be moving locations in the next few days and I am so happy for my aunt and uncle and their business expansion.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year and every year and what I wrote about was a small fraction of the multitude of amazing things I have in my life.

Thank you for reading.

Maddie