This Thursday, I am thankful for my family.

I don’t think I am thankful for them often enough, and they do so much for me. Including drive me completely insane. Seriously… nobody gets on my nerves more than my family. Except, well… maybe another day.

However, it’s obvious that they love me, and would do anything to help me and to protect me. I love them, too. And I am very protective of them, no matter how batty they make me. If I didn’t have them, who knows where I would be at, what I would have lost at this point in my life, or who I would even be. I don’t know how people survive without their family rallied around them. I’m very blessed to have always been surrounded by my family. And my son is very blessed to be being raised right smack in the middle of this big, sometimes crazy, always fiercely protective family of ours.

I can’t go on and on, because I get emotional… but I want to mention also, that today is the 3 year anniversary of the death of my Grandpa, lovingly known as Paw Bill. I miss him, terribly. Every single solitary day, I miss him. N misses him. I’m so thankful that he got to know him, and that he remembers him. I’m thankful for the closeness that they shared in the almost 4 short years that they had together. I’m thankful for my grandma, for always standing by her man, even when people thought she shouldn’t. If she hadn’t done that, we may have never seen the beauty and adoration for his family that lived inside of him.

I’m also very thankful that I was with him, right there at his bedside, sleeping with my head on his bed his last night here on Earth. It was difficult, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from him. I’m glad I stayed.

If I am going to post everyday, I have to have some sort of structure. From now on, I will have Thankful Thursdays, and Flickr Fridays. Let’s just see how that works out…

This Thursday is no different than any other day in my life - I’m thankful that I am N’s mom. So, so very thankful that it was me who was picked to be HIS mom. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and I love every single solitary second I get to spend with him.

This week has been absolute turmoil in my life.  My job has come crashing down on me with a force that is trying to knock me to my knees, but the real truth is it has been a blessing in disguise. I have missed most of my boy’s soccer games this season, so everything that has happened this week, I see now has been with much reason. This week has been full of his soccer tournament games… and I have missed so much, just in this short season. Maybe it just feels like a lot to me, because until I started this job, I missed NOTHING. Not a single moment of his life did I miss. Then, I had no choice, and it hurt.. gosh, it hurt so bad to not be there for everything. I realize it’s not always possible, but it was killing me inside.

However, this week I have been granted the week off (read that how you want, lol)… and do I care? No, not in the least. It hasn’t crossed my mind, or bothered me in the least… because you see, I have been at every game this week, and have been on the sidelines screaming and cheering (in typical Heather fashion) my boy on, and tonight they secured their spot in 2nd place. I am so proud of him, he is doing SO well and he loves it SO much - AND I GOT TO SEE IT ALL!! I’m very, very happy… and extremely thankful that the random events that led up to me being able to see my boys games this week happened, no matter what the consequence.

So, why am I taking this trip down memory lane with the pictures? I’m not sure. I love the kid he has become, but I can’t help but miss the baby that he was.. and also, be very thankful that I was granted the opportunity to stay home with him and never miss a moment. That is a blessing in and of itself. Nothing measures up to that.

One Hundred Years from now
It will not matter
what kind of car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in,
how much money was in my bank account
nor what my clothes looked like.
But the world may be a better place because
I was important in the life of a child.

At my grandma’s house one day, she had some money laying around (I believe with intent to give to myself or N for helping her do something) and before long they were engaged in conversation about the Presidents on the paper money.

My son looked at two $5 bills and said “This ain’t George Washington, this guy’s got a big ole head” (new money, haha). Well, we enjoyed a little laugh over that. My grandma pulled out an old $1 and N seemed more at ease with George’s normal sized head. I told him they all have big heads like that now, and he seemed a little frustrated with the WHY and HOW they are changing the money. Especially for a kid who is just learning the value of it.  He’s not real big on change….

So, there is a punchline in here somewhere…  Oh -  I got it!

After he had honest to God proof in his hands that the guy on the $5 bill was indeed NOT George Washington, he wanted to know who he was. My grandma really enjoys teaching him new things so I sat back and let her tell him all about Abraham Lincoln. I didn’t bother to mention that we have been working on Presidents’ names since he was 3, and that he does know most of them by name, but I noticed when she said his name a light came on inside of his head. He let her finish, then he said…

“Oh, yeah. I know that guy. April Hams Linkums. He was a good President. Wasn’t he?”