A spoonful of gratitude

Just like the rest of you bloggers out there, I go through out my everyday and when something cool, funny, amazing, profound, or soul-stirring happens, the first thing I think of is "I can't wait to write about this!".
 
Today I have had some of those moments as I played with my kids, spent time with my handsome hubby, and prepped for tomorrow's big craft show.
I had those moments but that's not what I wanted to blog about today.

Today I want to say "Thank you."

I have learned my entire life to be grateful for what I have.
I come from a family of 7 children. My dad was the fix-it guy in our tiny town and my mom stayed home to raise us. Needless to say, we got by on very little. But we never knew how tight the financial situation in our house was. We truly were happy!

Somehow, by roofing houses and unclogging drains, my dad managed to make enough money to feed his "gang" of kids and I never heard him complain, not once, about how hard things were. He taught us how important hard work and gratitude are. He let us help him roof houses and one year we were forced blessed to work in my dad's football field sized garden.  It was our job to weed and irrigate. It was hard work and we hated it! But now I can look back and see how much we learned. I have never been more greatful for the food we ate than when we grew it and harvested it with our own hands.

Now that I'm married and have 2 little ones of my own, I realize how hard it must have been for our struggling family to make ends meet. And somehow my parents even found a way to fund things like Cheerleading, Show Choir, Vacations, School Pictures, Dance Classes, etc.

So why am I giving you my life story? I'm not complaining at all. I wanted to share how truly grateful I am that I was raised under these circumstances. I learned that it doesn't take money or stuff to make people happy.


I will always be greatful to my dad and mom for teaching me to be thankful for what I have. 

I'm thankful that God blessed me with passion.  I do what I love and I love what I do.

I'm thankful for my talents. I'm blessed to come from a line of artists and musicians who gave a smidgen of their talents to me so I can share with others.

I'm thankful for your talents. Thank you to everyone who has taught me and inspired me. It is your passion that fuels my passion.

I'm thankful for everyday inspirations. From the lovely orange-ish pink-ish flowers that grow along my backyard fence, the color of the Arizona sky as the sun sets every evening, flocks of birds sitting on telephone lines, and the yellow dandelion that was lovingly plucked from my lawn and given to me by my sweet little boy.  As small as a grain of sand and as big as the universe.  It is all inspiring!

I'm thankful for good advice. Once piece of good advice is priceless. Plus, it saves you hours of "google" time.

I'm thankful for progress. The old saying says that "every journey begins with a single step". And every step along the path brings you closer to your goal. Even if you only take one step today, you are headed in the right direction and eventually you will reach your destination.

I'm thankful that I am happy.
 I have hard days, just like everyone else. I have days where I wish I could run away and join the circus, or just give up and not try any more.  I have days that I swear my kids are sent here to drive me insane.

But deispite those few bad days we really are happy! I just hope that I can teach my children the same thing my dad taught me. Be Thankful! 

Thank you to everyone who has blessed my life since we opened Cantaloupe Corner a year ago. I am truly and whole-heartedly grateful for this amazing oppurtunity.