Some Things To Be Thankful For.

I know, you expected this kind of post in November. We've covered this - I don't even make resolutions or handle major reflections on the past year until March. I've got my own calendar, you've just gotta roll with me.

I can't even begin to list everything I'm thankful for, and I suppose I'm most grateful for that. My life is full of incredible gifts of every kind, but when I sat down to really examine what has meant the most to me, it's been the people that fill my life and my experiences with them that make me happy I'm alive. I'm blessed to be surrounded by faces I've known most of my lifetime, and I've found new friends that have made my life even more complete.

How lucky I am to share joy & pain, the bittersweet lessons & the fabulous events, and to sit around adding spice to the mundane parts of life with some of the most tremendous personalities I have ever encountered.  I can only hope that when Sam is an adult, she'll have a similar cast of characters in her life.

I have thousands of moments to cherish, here are just a few:

• Dancing to the Ebonknight's cover of the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" surrounded by incredible people, and my dad's version of "Mustang Sally" that same night
• Two of my closest friends giving birth to children they wanted so very much. Welcome to the world, Brynlee & Jagur.
• Cooking for twelve in a friend's kitchen, as her family struggled with the sudden loss of her beloved mother. I am also grateful that I could be there to carry coats, children & cocktails the day of the service and afterwards.
• Watching the Giants clench the NL West with two of my girlfriends & thinking baseball couldn't get any better, until weeks later when I was in the stands for Game 7 of the playoffs with 3 of the biggest SF fans I know, in a night full of magic, laughter & rain.
• Riding the LandShark & my favorite elevator with one girl I've loved forever, and one I'm sure I'll love the rest of my life.
• Packing the remains of a friend's business, and driving together in a truck & trailer, listen to country music & discussing the next chapter of her life.
• Riding the subway in a car packed with people dressed as Santa & other holiday characters.
• Driving a Zamboni with my mother taking hundreds of pictures - and almost none of them coming out, because she was so excited for me she kept bouncing around.
• Hiring two people that I completely trust, and holding meetings with them & the two blondes that make G-Free Foodie & my life a thousand times better.
• Watching helplessly as the horse my daughter was riding began to buck wildly, and feeling full of love & relief as several of the cowboys in our lives cleared fences to get to her & calm the horse, which she stayed on top of - and then realizing how tough she is.
• Standing by the side of four of my friends as they burned down barns in their lives - and being able to help spread ashes, and tell them with absolute certainty that life will get better.
• Being offered a job that fit for a thousand reasons, and laughing every day with people I respect & have come to quickly love.
• Showing up to a serious medical crisis with shrimp tacos, hair in a bun, a sense of humor & voice of reason - because that's what a girl I'd loved since I was born needed.
• Riding around with the sunroof open, Springsteen blaring, drinking slushies & talking about men, kids & vampires.
• Realizing in the middle of a party how lucky I am that my parents' friends are my friends too.
• Reassuring a friend that moved to the coast that no matter what anyone said, she should live her life on her terms. Celebrating my birthday with her in SF, after she had just beaten cancer.
• Eating Cheetos & drinking Prosecco while listening to the ocean crash.
• A laughter-filled mimosa brunch after hot yoga.
• Filming a parody video on a day when everything went right.

and hundreds of cocktails, coffees & Diet Cokes with orders of sushi, blue cheese fries, pizza & Scott's specials while talking about every part of our lives.

May 2013 hold as much love for us as we can handle.

KC