Happy November

It never takes long for the day to start coming at me with life's annoyances and attempts to rob me of my joy.  Especially when that joy was there only moments ago as I ate breakfast with my boy who was up early and needed waffles.  Tommy has always been delightful and extra sweet during the morning hours, and I love that he was up early so we could share a few moments together before I headed off to work and was away from him all day.

No sooner than I left him though and headed off to work, I hit fog and awful traffic and it took me an entire hour to get to my office.  By the time I reached my destination, all of my patience and calm and joy that I started out with, was completely gone.  It was enough to make me want to turn around, head home and crawl under my covers so I could feel sorry for myself.

I'm a bit dramatic sometimes, I know.

It's November now - the season of gratitude and thankfulness.  Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays. And not just because there is an abundance of pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes (but, what a perk!), but because it's the time of year where my heart takes notice and begins to reflect on my life.  On what I have and what I've been blessed with.  I wish I could be more in touch with gratitude and thankfulness year round - and I've been attempting to work on that because that is the kind of woman I want to be.  But November brings that conviction to my heart and I anticipate this time every single year. 

I guess it didn't feel fair that the first day of November had to start out with an hour long drive to work though - because what's to be thankful for in that?  Maybe that I have a car to drive.  That we have money to put gas in it.  That I have a job to go to that helps provide for what our family needs.  And that my day didn't start with a bad commute.  It started with a waffle breakfast with my son....

Gratitude.  It's always there.  Sometimes, we just have to go looking for it underneath our bad attitudes. 

All this to say, my hope is that the tone of what I write this month will have an  underlying theme of gratitude and thankfulness as we enter this season.  That my heart will remember what is good and full.

Like my sweet super-hero.  My little Captain America, who I may or may not have bribed with a lollipop to get one posed picture of him in his costume.  

We went trick-or-treating last night with friends.  It was Tommy's first time - and mine too for that matter.  He didn't know what to think about it at first and I can't say that I blame him.  It really is an odd thing to knock on someone's door that you don't know and they hand over candy to you because you've asked for it.  Though I don't like the ugly, scary, gory parts of Halloween, I imagine there will always be candy and dressing up and fun every October 31st. 

It's the first of November.  Time for family and turkey and thankfulness and being together.  And even if some bad commutes and unexpected hiccups happen along the way in such a season, there is still much to be grateful for.