Different kind of Christmas

This year is all about thanks, for so many things.

• For my health... though not as great as it was just a year ago, it's so much better than in previous months.
• For the ability to travel freely in a country all about freedom, well mostly that is, except for Arizona.
• For my love of photography.
• For Ginger still going strong after 12 years.
• For a paycheck.
• For meeting a great guy who never lets a day go by without letting me know I'm special to him. And even more so, for realizing no one is perfect, not even the people you place on pedestals.
• For recognizing that although I can burn the crap out of anything cooked on top of the stove, I can cook inside the oven like crazy ;-)
• For those who get me, and even those who do not. There's much to learn from both crowds.
• For recognizing that it's not the name brands I own, the clothes I buy, the riches I surround myself in that defines me. Never has been, never will be.
• For my new camera... I've got a lot to learn just to use the basic features!
• For understanding there are many ways to give support and love, and quite frankly doing it your own way is okay.
• For the world that Sophia opened to me and the additional world Magpie opened to me.
• For the incredible and overwhelming support from strangers and loved ones after that call came.
• For the thoughtfulness, kindness and understanding that still flows.
• For embracing and loving my right and need for privacy, I've finally learned it's okay to do it all your own way. It really is.
• For new friends, old friends and true friends.
• For a roof over my head, heat in my home and food in my stomache.
• For the continued adoption referrals of all of those who've been a blessing in my life during the last 5, nearly 6, years.
• For recognizing that life can change just as dramatically in an instant as it can over many years... and that sometimes it changes back again.
• For having the incredible luck and good fortune of spending a few days west recently, including the Grand Canyon, never thought I'd ever get to go.

And so this holiday season marks the first one in a while full of great irony. Things that may in the past have been a sign of all that is missing, are now signs of all that is present. There is no tree this year but there is a ton of holiday spirit. There is no big pile of presents, not the tangible kind, but there are riches beyond belief.

And I am once again reminded the riches of life come from all the things you can't put a price tag on. Congratulations to my dear friend who's daughter just came her way... just in time for Christmas ;-)