Thankful, Thankful, Thankful

just a list of some things i have been so truly thankful for in the past few weeks.

• a stinkin JOB! a real, adult job. in Boston. with just a short 30 minute commute door to door. walking to the train station and seeing the beach everyday. not waking up sad at the thought of going to work but waking up energized with the sun in my room, ready for the day. working with a friend. seeing people throughout my day and going for walks during my HOUR LONG lunch break. hour long lunch breaks. delicious lunches. laughing/smiling at the thought of having a job and working with Katy everyday after a whole year of joking about it every time i saw her. a really nice interview with such an odd feeling of peace afterward and a trip to finagle a bagel thinking "man i could get used to this!" and then getting hired! being able to decorate my desk area with jars for my pens and pictures. meeting new girls at work.
• living at home. just a year ago this time my world seemed to be crumbling. the thought of home and my family seemed so scary and seemed to be breaking. i feared the worst. i feared i wouldn't have the typical "family" that i was so used to and valued. i feared never having a place to go home to. i feared how my heart would react to that, being full of such hatred and bitterness and lack of forgiveness. but God is capable of taking the broken and glueing the pieces back together. he takes the disgustingly ugly and somehow, miraculously makes it beautiful again. i've seen him so that with friendship before, and it seems he has done it with my family (or so i pray) and i'm thankful for that. i'm thankful to be home. i'm thankful to be with my parents and my brother. i'm thankful to wake up on the holiday and be asked by John if i wanna go for a ride to the tool store with him. i'm thankful for affection from my parents and to have parents who truly care and love me. i'm just thankful to be home, and for that i'm thankful for! 
• i'm thankful for the sweetest year i couldn't have even came up with if i tried to imagine, living with my dear friends and roomies Kait and Jenn. i'm thankful for last summer and how fun it was. to have Katy living there. to have Allie there for some time. for the time at puffers, for the times on the porch, for the walks. for the place our home was and how the doors were always open to visitors. for how pretty and cutely decorated it was. for all the meals prepared and eaten together. for ALL the laughs, ALL the pranks, ALL the silly and ridiculous things that happened. for my friends understanding my humor and enjoying it and joining in with me. for all the freakin dance parties and all the dance moves learned. for all the preparation for Matt&Ashley's wedding that we all practiced for which was the beginning of all the dancing craziness. for all the times at the ABC playing pool. for coming home everyday to two awesome friends and sharing about our days and being listened to. for all the encouragement. for all the love. for all the fun. for a beautiful and colorful room. for all the crafts worked on in that house. for all the times we just sat and laughed watching Golden Girls. for all of our lists of fun things to do and then crossing each thing off as we accomplished them. for it being Becca and Katy's home away from home. for the day we moved in and all the help we got, i still can't forget that day and the service of our friends. for being woken up my last morning in the house to Kait and Jenn blaring Justin Bieber and squirting me with squirt guns. and then crying. i'm tearing up as i type now. for just a beautiful year of such sweet friendship and company that cannot be put into words. there were so many things i loved about the year there and so much of it was all the little things that are slipping my memory now. for 351 Main Street and all that it meant to me my 5th year living in Amherst.
• being by the ocean!! walking the beach and smelling the smell of the ocean.
• all the potential for summer as it is just beginning. all the excitement for boating and sun tanning and tubing and JET SKIING!! and camping on the island and ice cream eating and sitting outside late. that it gets dark so late now. for the joy summer brings to my year. for nights at the yacht club just sippin some wine on the deck and looking into Boston. for all the BBQs and all the beach days. 
• for the hope i feel at the thought of connecting with God and really working on some things
• colorful furniture and inspiring people and blogs
• a sweet last day at Sue's where the kids who do not usually show up on Thursdays came for one final lunch with me. they all made me cards and it was just so sweet. hugging some of the kids i had to hold back the tears or they would have just kept streaming down my face. and a gift card that all the parents chipped in for me where they treated me to $125 to ANTHROPOLOGIE!!