Michelle's Madness

Since Thanksgiving is almost upon us, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for Brian. He is the most amazing husband and I cannot imagine my life without him. He understands my quirks, and even finds some of them amusing. He knows me better than I know myself and knows how to help me through something difficult or tell me if I’m being crazy. Brian is my best friend, whom I tell everything to, and even after being together for 11 years – and married for 9 – we still have fun together. We have great conversations and we just love spending time together, whether we’re driving somewhere, lazing around watching movies, or building Ikea furniture (directions with no words!) and doing chores together. He is a wonderful dad and I am so lucky that I can leave the house and know that the kids will be clean, fed and clothed appropriately, and played with. I don’t have to micromanage from afar, or worry that he’ll just feed them only McDonalds when I’m gone. He cooks and cleans and takes good care of our family. We parent together as a unit; none of that crap where dad undermines mom constantly, making me the bad guy and him the “cool” parent. And he is certainly not one of those bumbling dads you see on TV who can’t handle a diaper or puke or even something as simple as giving the kids a bath.

I am thankful for Jacob. I can’t believe how big and strong he’s getting, and he constantly amazes me with how smart and funny he is. He helps me a lot, and is the best big brother that we could have ever asked for. He helps and teaches Logan, and they are the best of friends. Jacob is polite and charming and always has a story to tell. Even though his non-stop talking can drive me nuts sometimes, I wouldn’t trade it because it just demonstrates how intelligent and inquisitive and creative he is. He draws amazingly detailed pictures of his favorite things, and he is always eager to learn about the world around him. He gives wonderful hugs and will try to take care of me when I don’t feel well. I remember one time I had a migraine and he brought me water so I could “get hydrated and feel better.” Too sweet! He brings great character to our family.

I am thankful for Logan. He is so laid back and sunny. Many days he has a smile on his face before he even opens his eyes. He is smart like his brother, but he tends to just do his thing and absorb information as it comes rather than aggressively pursue it like Jacob. He loves to be my helper and will set the table for dinner, and open doors for me. He always wants to be included and just loves to be around people. There is a lot of personality packed into that small body of his. He wants to be a big kid so badly, yet is perfectly happy being the “baby” of the family. He is developing his sense of humor, and often makes us laugh with funny faces and sayings. Our family would not be complete without our “caboose”.

I am thankful for our extended families. The boys have wonderful grandparents who love to take them for the weekend and spend time with them and teach them and play. If we need help or advice, our parents help if they can. And they follow our discipline methods and enforce the rules we have decided on for our boys, which keeps them consistent and they don’t come acting like spoiled brats because they got away with murder all weekend.

I am thankful for my job. Sure it drives me nuts, and the commute sucks, and I’d rather stay home. But it pays decently, and we couldn’t do without that income. It certainly beats having no education or skills and having no job choices whatsoever due to those limitations and being stuck either working at McDonalds (Would you like fries with that?) or as a greeter at Wal-Mart (Welcome to Wal-Mart. Get yer shit and get out!). And my work friends help keep me sane while I’m here. I’ve had jobs where nobody got along, or I didn’t get along with people, and there was mistrust and tension and it was awful. Here, we all chat when we can and have a good time as much as possible, and just generally make the best of being at work.

I am thankful for being healthy. I certainly need to exercise more, and I do have my own issues, but it could be so much worse. I could have a debilitating, incurable disease, or I could be disabled and totally dependent on other people, which would be hell to me.

I am thankful for our life in general. Incredible marriage, awesome kids, and wonderful families. We could certainly use more money, but we are able to afford to live in a nice house in a good neighborhood with good schools and friendly neighbors. And while we can’t afford to go to Disneyland every year, or on some other big, fancy, annual vacation, we have fun with what we can do. Fortunately, we all love camping, which is way less expensive than a trip to Disneyland, and in my opinion, a lot more fun and memorable. The boys are enjoying their childhoods, and they have a lot more fun turning themselves into dirty sticky messes while camping than they would waiting in a two hour line for a two minute ride. The boys still love to look at the pictures of our camping trips for the last 2 summers.