I am thankful for so many people in my life. First and foremost is my son. I was blessed with only one child, and I tell everyone he was so perfect I never wanted another because why mess with perfection?

He is good looking, so intelligent you feel stupid around him, thoughtful, kind, sensitive, and Christian. He is also very athletic, and loves to participate and watch sports. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University, and will receive his master’s degree next year. He saved me. I am very grateful that he is my son, and thankful that God allowed me to be his mother. I often tell him that people are often judged by their greatest accomplishment, and he is mine. He hates that. He says he shouldn’t be thought of as an accomplishment. When he has children he will understand more. He is the light of my life.

I am very thankful for my husband of 20 years. 20 years! It’s hard to believe when I say it. I married him when my son was 11, after having been single about 11 years. (Matthew was 9 months old when I divorced his father, and he turned 12 three months after I married). He loves my son and me unconditionally, and helped to make us the happy family that we are today. He has been with me through so many things, and I am thankful to God that He sent him to me.

Next is my best friend forever Patti. Patti has been my best friend for 30 years! She is more like a sister to me, and she knows all my good and bad qualities. She also has a memory like a steel trap and never forgets anything. I have always been able to call her and talk about anything with her. I met her when I still lived in Lubbock, Texas, but moved to the Dallas area two years later. So, we knew each other for two years before I moved away and she is still my best friend! Isn’t that amazing? We are very silly together and have a lot of inside jokes. She is the best friend anyone could have and I am so thankful that she considers me her friend.

There is a saying that you can have friends for a reason, season, or a lifetime. I have been fortunate enough to have all three. I am thankful to each and every one of my friends for all the support they have given me, and lessons they have taught me, and the laughs and tears we have shared. Some friends turned out to be not so great, but those are the “reason” friends, and I learned from them also. I am fortunate enough to have more lifetime friends than the reason or season friends, and I am thankful for that. I am thankful for my dear friend Sally, who I met through work over 20 years ago, and have remained close friends. I am thankful for Lanette, my friend since high school, who is older than me by one day. Claudia and Rachel, whom I met when our sons were five years old and played on the same soccer team, and are still friends to this day. I have friends that I talk to on a regular basis, and I have friends that I can go a long, long time without speaking and then just pick up where we left off effortlessly because they are a true friend. I am thankful for all the friends in my life who don’t keep score! I am also thankful that through Facebook I have been able to reconnect with my friend since elementary school, Alicia, and we just picked up where we left off.  Well, you know, after filling each other in on the last 40 years!

I am so thankful to have two brothers and a sister whom I love dearly. I am thankful I got to spend 42 years with my mother. I love them so much.

I am thankful today, tomorrow, and always for all my blessings. Throughout this month I will share more of my list. I wanted to end with friends and family but you know they want to be first!