Thankful Thursday: Spa Professionals

It has been awhile since I've done a Thankful Thursday post, but as I was getting a massage earlier this week, it occurred to me that I don't know what I'd do without my spa professionals!

I'm thankful for my aestheticians - the ones that regularly wax my eyebrows, and the one that gave me my first ever facial this week! It was just a mini-facial, but it made me feel great. Thank God for the aestheticians that allow me to focus on me, and make me feel beautiful in the process.

Most of all, I'm thankful for massage therapists! They work magic with their hands and arms, kneading the stress out of my shoulders and back, soothing tired, aching arms and legs, and finding tension points I didn't know existed in my hands and feet. I have had some massage therapists that were absolutely heaven-sent. I'm thankful that these skilled people found their way to this profession, where they spend their time and energy helping the rest of us simply feel better.

Thankful Thursday: Let's Get Physical

Oooooo, a little bit of a risque image, right? Well, I thought it was appropriate for this edition of Thankful Thursday, which is about the physical.

I am thankful for this body God gave me, the home of my soul, temple of my spirit. I am thankful for the legs I have that can walk, run, and jump. Thankful for the eyes in my head that allow me to read and watch, and see all in the world that is so beautiful. I am thankful for the ears I have that allow me to hear, and to listen. Thankful for my lips I have to kiss my husband, and that will someday allow me to kiss my baby's head, and feel the soft fuzz of my baby's hair. I am thankful for the nose that will smell that sweet baby smell, and that allows me joy in the scent of gardenias, jasmine, the spring blossoms on my tangelo tree, and the warm pine and dirt scent of the mountains. I am thankful for the skin I have with which I can touch and be touched by loved ones, and that inexplicably gets goose bumps when I'm inspired or when I watch a hallmark commercial.

I'm thankful for my Wacky Wicketeer's sexy dimples, and his warm, bright eyes. Thankful for his strong arms that hold me close and comfort me. I'm thankful for his gentle hands and his heat-radiating body.

I'm thankful for the smell of clean sheets, the feel of a cool fan on a hot summer's day, and the taste of a tart popsicle.

Lisa Nichols has said: "No one else can dance your dance. No one else can sing your song. No one else can write your story. Who you are, what you do, begins right now."

I am thankful for me.

Thankful Thursday 2

I am thankful for my education. The years I spent in public grade school, as an undergraduate in college, and in law school, established a foundation on which I can rely for the rest of my life. It enables me to analyze problems, complex and simple, fluid and halting, theoretical and existing. It gave me the confidence to believe in myself and my own opinions, and to think critically. Wealth, health, loved ones, and even freedom can be taken away, but not education.

I'm also thankful for my grandparents. They were a soft place to land as a child, all about hugs and cookies, Christmas and birthdays. They taught me the value in learning from my elders, about our history, as a family, a culture, and a nation, so that I can learn from the mistakes of those who came before me. They taught me how to waterski, fish, use a screwdriver, do my makeup, shave, make apricot cobbler, walk like a penguin, to wash my hands before eating, and that there are times in which, if I don't have anything nice to say, then I shouldn't say anything at all.

Thankful Thursday

I'm going to try to post a gratitude list on Thursdays, so here is today's.

I am thankful for the financial stability we have been graced with. Thankful that both our cars are paid off, we have no credit card debt, and my spouse has a great job that he enjoys and that allows for me to do whatever I want on a daily basis. And for the bonus that is going to let me buy a new couch next month!

I'm thankful for the healthy body that God has given me. I feel so lucky to have it in working order.

I'm thankful for where I am in my life and in the world. I'm thankful that God has put me right here, right now. My history has made me who I am, and I love that person.

I'm also thankful for my wonderful husband. It is absolutely amazing to find someone who can love me the same way I love him. To have a partner in every sense of the word-someone who is both your equal and your opposite, with whom you develop a way of flowing through each day together. Giving and taking, supporting and opposing, all as needed, and in a strange, rhythmic way that just feels right. I suppose that's what makes him my soulmate.