See, even a pessimist can be grateful!

Reading over some of my bloggyspace friends' blogs, I decided to follow suit and write about things I'm grateful for. Yeah, this is kind of out of character for me, since I'm pretty much a glass-half-empty kinda gal, but I do know I am a lucky girl in a lot of ways. It could be worse, a lot worse...

My daughter (of course)
I know that I wasn't ready to have her when I did, and there were a lot (A LOT) of struggles during pregnancy, birth, and raising her so far... but I wouldn't go back and change a thing. She's independent, witty, smart, and an all around good kid , and I know that there are a lot of single moms out there that struggle much worse than me. A good thing about her growing up the way she has is that she adapts to new things very well, and flourishes. No way could I have ever done that, growing up in my sheltered two parent stable household. Of course, she has her days, as we all do, but those days pale in comparison to the days where she draws me a picture with two stick figures and I LUV MOMMY on it, and offers to unload the dishwasher because "mommy looks tired". It's the little things...


My job
I'm lucky to just have one. And from the looks of things, I'll have one for a while, since my company is actively HIRING instead of doing layoffs. There are things that happen on an hourly basis that piss me off to no end, but hey, I get to go home to a nice house with electricity and water, food stocked in the fridge, and have some extra money to unwind with friends on the weekends, so I really have no reason to complain. I know there are people out there who are stressing about their wife and kids to support with no job, and that put things right back into perspective when I'm bitching about the asshole who treats me like I'm his personal servant. There are lots of people out there that would jump at the chance to be the Italian asshole's personal servant.

My bed
Yes, my bed. You have no idea. I am so freaking grateful to have the big, comfy, soft, king size bed with fluffy pillows and a warm comforter and soft sheets. I would live in that bitch if I could. TM can relate to me on this one.

Friends and boyfriend
I'm so lucky to have the people in my life that I do. I've lost touch with a lot of old friends over the years, the ones that I swore would be bridesmaids in my wedding and I would be there at their kids' births... but people change, and instead of being sad over friendships fading away, I am happy for the ones that have remained strongly intact. I'm lucky to have three best friends as well, Matter of Fact Mommy! My brother, my girl KG, and of course, TM. I know that no matter what problem I have, I can turn to any one of them and they can help me fix it (or they can just fix me a strong drink, and I'll forget about the problem, ha.) And then there's BF... we were friends with benefits for almost a year before we started dating, and I never thought anything would come out of our situation other than what it was. But now we've been officially together for 8 months and he really makes me happier than I thought he ever could. Letting someone in your life when you have a child is one of the hardest things to do, and he's the first guy that MP has ever known I was dating. Although he annoys me to no end and is emotionally retarded sometimes (I say that in the nicest way possible, ha), he shows he cares in little ways that nobody but me gets to see, and I think that's one of the best things about him. He cares about MP just as much as he cares about me, and watching him with her truly makes me melt.

The weekends
How could I leave that out!? Some people have to WORK on the weekends... but I get those two glorious days that I can spend with all the things I'm grateful for. :)