This past 12 months has been quite the ride to say the least.

Some stuff I am grateful for, some not.

• October 1 of last year my son moved back from the Twin Cities.  He lives across the bridge in another state but still much closer than he was.
• Last November 1 I had to put my cat to sleep.  I miss him.  The upside, if you  can find it, is I have more freedom now…..but I still miss him.  I believe he was with me for the time he was needed and very much loved.  Grateful to have had him for 7 years.
• January rolled around and I finally had to make the decision to get a total hip replacement.  The end of January I saw my ortho doc and scheduled it for March 6.  But wait….there is more.  Because I had so many loose teeth and that my mouth could end up infected, I had to put my surgery off.  Any infection from my mouth could send and infection to my new hip.
• I started the process to get 13 teeth pulled and upper dentures made.  April 24 I had a new set of upper dentures and was cleared to get my surgery.
• July 11 I had a total hip replacement and was sent home the next day.  I have been off since then and will go back to work October 9.
• GOD has been with me all the way through and so many friends and my family.
• Everything I have gone through, I keep telling myself how blessed I am.  There are people I pray for everyday that are not so blessed.  Grateful to be able to pray for these people.

• A fresh start
• Achievable goals
• Meeting new people
• Reading more books
• Learning more words
• Being more empathetic
• Listening more and talking less
• Getting healthy
• Getting better with my procrastination
• Helping more people
• Working on my Spirituality
• Continuing to move forward with my life
• Love God even more

• Beautiful, crisp day.
• Sunshine.
• God.
• Wonderful Sisters in Christ.
• Good books.
• Good music.
• My son is moving back to town.
• Learning opportunities at work.
• Hunger for learning.
• My roommate, Skeeter. :)
• My cold not hanging on for weeks.  Thanks to God and over the counter medication.
• My new Manager.  Although it was hard to get used to someone new after 20 plus years of having my previous one, I believe I can learn from my new one.
• I am sober and nicotine free another day.
• My family and friends.
• I can clear my mind and not look back or forward.

1. Spring is a great season.  
2. Warmer temperatures.
3. Flowers blooming.
4. Snow melting.
5. Streets getting cleaned with rain.
6. The start of it being light later.
7. Beautiful sunrises as usual on the lake. 
8. My brother’s 63rd birthday today and more family birthdays to come this season.
9. My sobriety birthday coming.
10. God.  I am grateful for him through all the seasons.

1. Back to my regular work schedule tomorrow after 5 months of being on light duty and healing. I relaxed this weekend and will go back to work and slowly lead into my PT exercises. 
2. I have a job to go back to.  I am grateful for that.
3. God was with me this whole time, even when I was frustrated and impatient.
4. I had great support through it all.
5. My Bible was a great thing to have to reach for, not only when I was reading it regularly but also in between.
6. I found out, even with a bum knee/leg, that I could make it up and downstairs safely at home.  I avoided them as much as possible at work.
7. Even though I felt that hour loss of sleep today, it felt good to get up a little early.
8. I am sober.  Cannot imagine going through this while drinking. I think I would have just drank away the pain or found pills to do the job.
9. Open mind.  I can have an open mind to many things and changes in my life.  

1. God, who watches over me daily and who I can pray to like I am having a conversation with him.
2. My son, who is coming over today to let me watch Game Of Thrones. 
3. My siblings.  I love them all. 
4. My cat, who found his way to the middle of my bed this morning.
5. Good comedy on t.v.
6. My Bible and the wonderful plans in it.
7. My boss, for being so patient and keeping HR at bay as this recovery took longer than expected.
8. My ortho doc who was more than patient with me.  I think I will keep her.
9. Good coffee.
10. The beautiful sunrise this morning.
11. The lesson I learned over this past five months to listen to my body. 
12. Learning patience.
13. My injury making me look at my extra weight and how I really need to lose it, as it will be easy on my joints and bones.
14. Getting to do my PT exercises again so I can strengthen my knee and leg. 
15. I am upright and mobile again….one step at a time. 

1. God woke me up.  What could be better than that?
2. My sweet boy, Skeeter, greeting me in the bathroom as usual. 
3. A good day at work.
4. Walking a little faster/better.  
5. A beautiful day.  I believe it hit 50 here.  It does not seem that long ago, it was 25 below zero.
6. Sunshine.  Love me some of that Vitamin D.
7. Chinese food for dinner.
8. A comfy chair to sit in at the end of a day at work.
9. Ice is gone, for the most part, on the streets.  Feels safer, but still being careful.
10. Good sleep, when I can get it. 

1. I am grateful that even when I have a hard morning mentally, I still can bring myself out of it with prayer, online church, reading my Big Book and just getting busy around the house.
2. I only have to live for this day.
3. That even though I get in my head and look back and get stuck, I can get out of it and be grateful for another day God has given me. 
4. Good food, my cat, laughter.
5. The beautiful sunrise this morning.  Thankful I can get my butt out of bed early enough to see it. 
6. I always remain teachable.

1. God. I never take him for granted anymore.
2. Friends.  I lost a friend from my Bible study. She fought the great fight for a long time but is at peace now.
3. The nice weather. It can change so quick.  Grateful for a nice sunny day and seeing things melt. Spring fever anyone?
4. My son.  He talks of leaving Duluth and moving towards the Cities this Fall.  I will miss him but enjoy each time we get together.
5. A roof over my head.  I feel for people who were on the streets, especially earlier in the winter.  
6. Laughter.  I can laugh at lots of things and it does me good.  It is especially good when I can laugh at myself. 
7. My siblings. They are all older than me and I am grateful they are still all alive.  
8. A peaceful day.
9. My job.