Urg.....a bitching hottie

So I get this Face Book post today that reads "what happened to your blog" in other words I have let it slip the last few days. So today I am thankful for LeAnn. I am thankful for LeAnn for bitching at me to get back on it when I have not really felt up for the last few days. I have been super busy with work, DCF stuff, crazy nonsense of people and just trying to take care of myself.

LeAnn has always been a girl who is there to listen to me rant, bitch, complain about life, people and myself at times. She is always there with a great comment or an unsolicited affirmation or positive comment for the day. She knows me better than most; even though most of our communication is done electronically. I think at times it makes it easier to communicate with people that way. We let our guards down. We open up and we start talking.

She is an amazing and strong person. She is a great Mom and wife. She is intelligent, sexy, beautiful inside and out and fun. She is a great person to have in your life and I am lucky that she is in mine.

Thank you for getting me back on track with the blogs. :-)

Moving On

A few weeks ago I had a long discussion with my boss and one of two of my jobs. She and I had come to the conclusion that I would step down as a Lead Therapist due to the amount of stress the position entailed. This was heart breaking for me but on paper it made the most sense. I would be working less, seeing more clients and have time to do other things. Well due to my stepping down I also received a really big pay cut. Which to say the least s-t-u-n-g.

Now that the after shock as worn off, the dust has settled and a replacement has been found, I am starting to really like being a therapist again. I get to spend more time with my other office, I get to work better hours at my job and see more people. Today I am thankful I stepped down despite the heartache I was feeling at the time, it has really worked out to be the best thing for me. Sometimes hard decisions turn out to be more good than you ever thought possible.

Yesterday

I forgot to blog yesterday. I did not remember until I was half asleep in bed. Yesterday I am was thankful for a good mood. When you have been sick and looking at the world half full a good mood is somewhat hard to come by. I am not sure if its the daily counting of blessings or a shift in the weather or my health but I am thankful for the good day I had yesterday.

The Pavement

Today I am thankful for the pavement, old running shoes, and a great windy sunset. The mood outside tonight was great. It was peaceful, people were walking their dogs and the weather was just right. So I took off. I ran and continued to run until I started hacking up my guts from coughing. Still a little under the weather I guess. Gross, yes I know.

I am thankful that I live in a place that allows me to run, take my aggression out of the pavement and blast really loud music in my ears. It is peaceful and reduces my stress and worry. It's my time with the universe. I enjoy doing this alone, of course there is my safety person I always check in with before I leave and when I return. Just to make sure I make it home alive. It is Florida after all. I am appreciative for them as well.

I am thankful for the ability to bathe in a sunset tonight while doing something I love.

Day 6, Health

Today I am thankful for the days I am well and not sick. I feel so unproductive when I am sick. I HATE laying around and doing nothing but healing. So today I am thankful for the days when I am well. I am also thankful for all the people who emailed, FB or texted me today to see if I needed anything.

Day 5-Who I am

I have been sick today and the past couple days. I believe everything happens for a reason, whether it may be to learn, experience, grieve or love. Everything has a purpose. Today while laying around not doing a whole lot, I decided to go through old photos.

I started laughing. I mean laughing hard; to the point I knew I just had to share these photos with all the people in them. These photos made me remember how I once felt about people, people I enjoyed spending time with, people I loved and how far we have come in time since the snapping of my camera.

Sometimes I try so hard to blend in with where I am that I forget where I have been. It's the way of the world, you fit in to get ahead. I often forget who I really am and what it is that I love about me. I love that I am different. I love that I can speak with a strong southern draw (pending who I have been spending time with). I love that I can also hide that about me if I need to. I am thankful that I used my past as motivation to get me where I am and where I hope to go. I enjoy things that boys like to do while being girly on the side. I like playing devils advocate, I enjoy a good laugh and I love making others laugh. That is who I am.

Today I am thankful for the memories and the moments I loved most when growing up. I am so thankful for the people who grew with me and who helped to shape who I am. I remember a lot about that time. I remember conversations I had with people and how they sparked something in me. I remember the people who I thought were so horrible and how they helped to lay a foundation for what I would someday do as a profession. I remember compassion from mentors and the fear from the first boy who broke my heart (oh and yes I am still bitter, I like that about me too).

I thought life was so horrible at the time. Looking back it was the people around me who was preparing me for what was to come. If you can't make it as a child there is no way you will make it as an adult. I am thankful for child-like things.

My Freedom

Today I am thankful for the right to make good and bad choices, to say what I want to say and to believe what I choose. I am thankful for my freedom. I am so very thankful for those who have died to give it to me.

Larry, Maggie, Tracy and client's with a sense of humor.

Today I am thankful for my private practice with Dr. Larry Shyers, Maggie Ryon, and Tracy Lewis. My work place is my sanctuary from stress and the real world. Now don't get me wrong some days I want to leave that place in a sprint, but not very often. It's almost like "base" in the game of tag. I work with some of the kindest and most rational people anyone could find. We are laid back and very much like a small family.

I took an hour nap today on my office couch and no one cared, you will not find that in many places. I am not the only one who will bask is such luxary in our office. We all take time to vent, relax, stress, work our butts off, help out each other, eat, celebrate and sometimes even swear (I do more of the swearing). We seem to accept each other regardless of mood or life happen stance. My office is my sanctuary and the people in it are very often Angels.

I am also thankful for some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. My clients. Old and new ones. I have learned all kinds of creative things which make me laugh every time I think about it, such as "tig ol bitties", and the new meaning of "wizard" from the Wizard of Oz.

(I can't really go into detail here about these stories but they are great and the people involved will know their humor and their stories help me when I am overwhelmed.)

They are often a breath of fresh air in the dead heat of summer. There are days, I find some of these people add more to my life than I could ever part to them. I hope people realize when they go to therapy, as therapist we hear a lot of bad things, but each person has something good to share. We will help carry the hurt for our client's but we also wear the good like badges of honor.

Day 2 Holly Cox

Today I am thankful for the randomness of my day. I worked all morning, started early, 530am. To cap off my afternoon with one of my dearest friends Holly.

She, like me is from the South, has a great accent, and a southern charm that she is not afraid to manipulate. She seems to always have an upbeat positive spin on things despite how grim life may seem at the time. She presents as a very strong and determined person, her moves and words are deliberate and usually for the common good of all of man. If anyone is to ever save the world I believe that she may be the one to do it.

Holly sees life as an adventure much like myself. We are both fire signs, a Sag and Leo, which could very easily lead to feeding the poor or a jail sentence, depending on the moon. We are both capable of useless ramblings and deep conversation that would baffle any eavesdropper. I adore her and love her. Today I am thankful that she is in my life and enjoys the random.

Ella Louise

Ella Louise means strong and determined one. She is my Grandmother. She is the first person on my list that I am thankful for. She gave me my Mother and my Family.

Growing up my friends feared her. She will tell you to your face if you are fat, mean or a horrible person and chances are she would have nothing to do with you. She is a great judge of character. She is also very loyal to her friends. Though she comes off as tough she would never admit to being a softy when it came to people hurting, especially children.

The family knows to never ask her opinion unless they really wanted to know. For example when Steven recently found a girlfriend, she came and met the family before meeting Granny. There is no need to subject this poor girl to Granny unless she is going to stick around, you can ask my brothers girlfriend Danielle about that.

Growing up you always knew when she was around because she once was a very loud woman. She has some what toned down her loud and expressive voice since the passing of my Grandfather. It's almost as if when he died her joy did as well.

I am thankful for her today. She is my favorite and very well aware of that fact. She is the epitome of strength. She has endured and survived, the death of her son, her husband, her parents, and all of her brothers and sisters. She has had hip replacement, both knees replaced, open heart surgery, countless heart attacks, over a dozen strokes, double breast cancer and removal, and currently is living with an unknown type of cancer. She has full use of her body and mind. She has never drank, smoked or done drugs. She has been married to only one man, and will tell you all about if you ask. Don't ask, she goes into detail about the honeymoon and her kitchen table.

To me she is the meaning to strength.

30 Days of Thankfulness.

Over the last year I have made some really good decisions and somewhat poor choices. I have lost friends and gained new ones. I started new things and learned new skills. I have learned a lot about who I am and who I am not. I would start to find what I thought was my footing only to realize I was in a sand pit. Over the last several weeks I have been battling what an optimist might describe as the blues.

Well blue being my favorite color the mood however is not. After a long weekend home and several days of my own pity party I realized that it's time to take a dose of my own medicine. I need a shift of perception so this is what I am going to work on for the next 30 days. Yes I know I should have started the first of the month but I didn't. So get over it and move on.

So for the next 30+ days I am going to write about what it is that I am thankful for, some of the topics may be people, places or even food. Who knows? Yes I realize this is very journal like, but I want it to be a platform to recognize the people in my life that I adore and what I think of them.

You might want to think about doing the same, start the Holiday season off on a good foot.

Check back tomorrow to see who I plan to start this journey off with. She is in no doubt "my favorite".
(Of which she is well aware).