A minute to be thankful

My husband and I recently celebrated our anniversary. This fact along with the readings and exercises for class made me begin to take note of a few things. I have begun to make sure that I tell my husband every day how wonderful he is and how blessed I am to have him in my life. I thought I had been telling him all along, but in the hectic day to day I wasn't quite sure if I was simply thinking it or if the words had actually passed my lips. The same holds true for my boys...yes, they can be aggravating and nerve wracking, but they are teenagers and I guess that is just their job! They need to know that they may test the limits of my patience and grace, but that they are loved unconditionally too. When I looked at all of them and told them that I loved them and how wonderful I felt that they were as people their reaction was "Geez, Mom...we know. You tell us that all of the time!" I guess I hadn't realized. Life is funny that way.
There are far too many things that we take for granted; things that we just expect to be there simply because they always have. But what if they were suddenly gone? Would we beat and berate ourselves for not having made peace or not having said what we truly wanted to say? Once certain opportunities pass us by they are gone for good and I don't want to miss a single one.
So...here I sit; coffee in hand on my patio watching the birds and enjoying the sun. I have prayed my prayers of thanks for all of my blessings (which I have found is even more important when things are NOT going well!) and I have kissed my wonderful husband, hugged my often ornery children and called my Mom just to say hello. All is well with the world in this moment. All may not be well later on...problems always seem to arise on some front, but the peace I feel right now will help buoy me. After a rocky start in life full of disaster and hurt I am finally finding my own way and my own peace.

Journey to Relaxation

I must admit that, even with the children running about and the sounds of music and video games in the background, I was able to "zone out". It doesn't happen often in the controlled chaos that can be life with teenagers, but somehow I managed. I enjoyed the bell tones in the background as well as the soothing voice of the gentleman doing the exercise. When he asked for us to redirect our blood flow I envisioned my veins, arteries and heart working to send the extra blood exactly where I wished and I could feel the warmth and heaviness in my arms and hands. It worked so well that I just may try it again before I turn in for bed tonight to see if it helps me sleep also!

Here we go!

I have never blogged in my life and seldom follow blogs from others (my oldest son being one), but here we go! I'm not sure what to write, what to expect and where this will all lead, however I am looking forward to the learning experience as well as possibly gaining some insight into myself as a person and how I would like to grow and evolve. So...to all of my classmates...welcome! I hope we have a great time!