Be Careful What You’re Grateful For…

because you might not get it anymore.

For family night this week we made a “gratitude garland” in preparation for the Thanksgiving holidays. We wrote down the things that we were grateful for on these leaves. My personal favorites came from Zack, each with their own illustration: “ear, triangle, this leaf, the letter ‘v’, and my friends going super fast.”

It had been about 10 months since I tore the disc in my lower back. I was feeling healthier and better than I had in the last 2 years so I put in a leaf expressing my gratitude for a healthy spine.

The next morning I picked up Abby, and injured my disc again. Over the next few days Zack, Abby, and Lila have all come down with a nasty flu virus. This is how we spent most of the day today. Me in a narcotic haze and the kids in fever induced, TV watching comas.

After every cartoon or movie Zack would give a couple of hearty coughs and say, “I am still sick, can we watch another show?” Despite all of the trouble and stress my back injury is heaping on our family, I am grateful that I could spend the day cuddled up with my kids.

p.s. so many people have copied this idea that I (Emily) thought I better add a post script and give credit where it's due. I wish I had been the thinker upper of this idea but it was all Family Fun, folks! I did however learn that it wasn't worth the effort to wrinkle the paper (who has time for that) and that staples were much more efficient than tape!