be thankful for what you have

One of my greatest pet peeves ever, and I mean, this is at the very top of my list, it makes me even madder than when people cut me off while driving: people who don't appreciate what they have.

I know for a fact my life isn't perfect. No one's is.  But that doesn't give us the right to not be thankful and appreciate the wonderful things we do have.

I've always said in my mind, "There's always some one out there worse off than me." And when I really think about it, I realize that I'm selfish.

I'm thankful for a lot of things:

• My parents: I don't know what I'd do without them.  We may have our arguments and get upset with each other, but they're my back bone and support me when I need it the most.
• My brother: My brother and I are fifteen years apart in age, but I love him so much nonetheless.  He's married and has kids, lives in another state; I don't get to see him him very often.  But regardless I love him.
• My numerous friends: There are far too many to name, and I hate name dropping.  I'm a friendly person and there are some of my friends I honestly don't know what I would do without them. They've helped me through all the hard times.
• God: I'm a believer, I have faith in Him.  Without Him, I wouldn't have been able to survive as much as I have as well as I have.  There aren't enough words to say how thankful I am to be a believer.
• The roof over my head.
• The food I eat.
• The education I receive.
• The country I live in.
• The community I'm apart of.
• Legg-Calves-Perthes Disease: I know this is odd to be on this type of a list, but honestly if you think about, all the hardship I've gone through with this has made me who I am.  I've become a strong individual who is determined.  Out of anything I could get diagnosed with, I got LCPD, it's far better than a lot of other diseases that other kids my age are diagnosed with. With that I'm thankful.

The list can go on and on, but those are just a few.  As with anything in life, everything as their drawbacks.  But things could be soooo much worse.

Last spring I was doubting a lot of things.  One of my close friends, whom I call my brother, told me to go home and make a T-chart, on one side list everything, everyone, anything I'm thankful for, and on the other, the stuff I'm not.  I did it, and guess what side was far longer?  Thankfulness.

Like I've said there is always the good and the bad side to things.  It seems that most people automatically turn to the worst.  If we just took the time out to realize how important these things and people are to us, we'd realize our lives aren't as horrible as we have always thought them to be.

There's always someone worse off than you.  What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving