Gratitude

Although Night Float's been a tough rotation in some ways, I've definitely got a lot to be grateful for, this month and always, so here's a few things I appreciate.

1. Bob! I definitely have been more aware of just how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband who's so perfect for me since I see him so little these days! 1 more week to go and then we can at least see each other twice a day!

2. Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ... I'm grateful that my parents raised me to understand this incredible sacrifice and the incredible love He has for us and I try to work harder each day to remember why I'm here and to strive to be more like Him... it's pretty easy to get caught up in the day to day minutia and forget the big picture, but I'm sure grateful for his perfect love for all of us!

3. How well provided for we are--especially now when everyone's struggling so much. We're so lucky to have all our needs met

4. Similarly, how lucky we are to both have stable jobs that we love that allow us to pay our bills. Lots of people count the minutes while at work, but even though I'd of course rather be home and not working, I've got a pretty great job and I love teaching families and taking care of fun kids!

5. Our great families... you can choose your friends and most aspects of your life, but your family is out of your hands. I'm lucky enough to not only have a great family but also to have married into another great one!

6. Our many friends! That's the good and the bad of our many moves... we've had the opportunity to meet so many great friends everywhere we've been, and also so sad to leave such wonderful people behind with every move.

7. Simple pleasures. It's amazing how happy Domino's cheesey bread can make me... or cinnamon chip bread from Great Harvest. Bob learned long ago that my favorite foods will impress me far more than way bigger gestures sometimes! Seriously though, we like to think we'll always be satisfied with simple pleasures and not want/need more.

8. Modern communication! There are a lot of modern inventions that we should all thank our lucky stars for every day, let's be honest! But I can't imagine living in a time where friends and family living just hours away would be difficult/expensive to even call on the phone, much less email/IM/video chat with/or call on a cell phone! And of course the blogs... we all know I love the blogs. It's so great to be able to keep up with everyone from afar and see pictures of all their latest adventures!

9. Our health!

10. Our pets--Lilo is super-lazy these days, but it's only because she loves to snuggle and both she and the cat follow me around the house when I get home from work in the morning to ensure they don't miss a minute of sleepy time when I crawl into bed and they snuggle in with me. Yes our bed is quite furry. Keeps us washing our sheets more regularly!

11. Our home--although it's often a bit messy, it really feels like ours and we're really settled in at this point... sad that we're at the halfway point of residency now though, so every day we're closer to leaving, but we're enjoying it while we're here!

12. Living closer to Coeur d'Alene than we ever have before! We now are only a 1/2 day's drive from the majority of our family, which is a wonderful blessing after we've lived so much further away for the last 7 years! Instead of getting home once or twice a year we get back every few months at least for a short visit, and we've had friends and family make the drive the other direction a bunch too!

13. The beauty of the Great Northwest. We almost went to Hawaii for residency, and while I'm sure we would have LOVED that too, and on the rainy cold days here this sometimes seems like the better plan, I love that when I've been up all night on call I can see an awesome sunrise behind Mt Rainier. I love that we see rainbows so often... I love that everything's always green! (especially after all the brown of Vegas and Vallejo!) I love the water all around us... the sound is beautiful. I love the people of the Northwest. I'm even pretty desensitized to the rain.

I took this pics with my iPhone in our resident work room--not a bad view! I feel like it could be a Madigan post card...

14. The Army. Sometimes this one can be a mixed blessing, but I'm so grateful they paid for med school, pay me now, for my awesome residency program where I'm learning so much, for the great people I get to work with every day, for the fact that I get to take care of the kids of our soldiers who protect all of our freedom, that I don't have to deal with private insurance and their refusal to pay for things they should, that I just get to always do what's right for the patient, and that I'm forced to stay in shape (although it's not always fun to run, I know its good for me and I SHOULD do it!). The Army also did my PRK so I now don't contacts or glasses, which is so awesome, and I've had a crazy amount of pricey dental work, and all of it was 100% free thanks to the Army. I had an awesome time at both OBC and C4 in San Antonio, and although I missed Bob for both these training exploits, I made some great new friends that I hope I'll run into again! Although the Army might take us or even just me far from home eventually, the pluses far outweight the few downsides.

15. Weekends and days off. I'm glad we live in a society that's laid back enough to have 2 days off in every week... not like the crazy stories you hear about how some kids in Asia only get 1 day off a week and go to school til the evening... Even though I don't always get to enjoy the glorious gift of 2 days off in a week, I do always get at least 1, and it's amazing how recharged I can get in just 24h off. Although work is fun, it's still work, and working long hours takes its toll on your mood, patience, energy, etc, so that 1 day off is critical!

16. Right about now I'm grateful for ear plugs. Without these simple things Bob and I would be a lot less compatible on our exact opposite sleep schedules lately! :) I am a great sleeper and quite a heavy sleeper typically, but thanks to the sheet Bob hung over the blinds in our room and my ear plugs, I've had no trouble sleeping all day after working all night these past few weeks! Similarly, he's wearing his ear plugs now, so even though it's my night off of work, I'm still on that schedule, so I've been listening to music, watching shows on the DVR, and doing dishes, and he's slept peacefully through it all thanks to those little pieces of foam. :)

17. Basketball! I love bball so much but have not had a chance to play it any sort of organized regular way since high school! So having a stake women's bball night for the last few months has been awesome! It's literally the highlight of my week. And now there's a volleyball night too! I was never as good at volleyball, but it's fun too! Yay for grown up sports! :) If only I had enough time off to actually join a softball league this summer!

18. Our freedom. Both as Americans, but I'm also speaking to what our friends with kids always remind us of! We know we're very lucky to be able to just decide on a whim to go to dinner or a movie and just go.... these are simpler times and we can't wait to be parents in the not too distant future, but for now are making the most of our time together just the 2 of us!

19. That I was born now and not in the pioneer times, pre-indoor plumbing, in a 3rd world barrio, etc! Big picture, I know I'm a lucky schmuck to be here now and have been given all the opportunities I have, to have grown up in a loving supportive family, to be able to go to school, and to just be able to be me and have such a great life so far! Thanks to all our wonderful friends and family! I can't wait to get back to a regular schedule so I can call/hang out with people more! Hope you're all having a great week so far!

So now your turn.... What are you all grateful for?

love,
Cathy