Grateful Sunday

I have been feeling really grateful for everything since yesterday. When it gets so cold here I don't really want to go outside to play with Abi but she really needs to run and climb and get her energy out so we tend to go to McDonalds about once a week to play in their playplace. We kind of cheat ( I guess) because we don't get any food. I usually get a drink so I don't feel guilty but then I sit and read or do logic puzzles while Abi plays. Yesterday I decided to take her there after the library so that Doug could get in a longer nap and Abi could get all her energy out before going home for dinner and bed.

It was packed in there. There were no tables available as a lot of people were having early dinners. I grabbed a chair that wasn't being used and sat in a corner balancing my stuff on my lap while I read. As I sat there I found it hard to focus on the book as I couldn't help hearing all the stuff going on around me.

The women right next to me were talking about all the various boys in their family (nephews, sons, brothers, grandsons, etc) and all the crimes they have committed and the jails they've been in and the rehabs they've gone into. One was 20 and just put in jail for murder. As I listened I looked at the next generation of boys playing and coming back for their food occasionally hoping that they wouldn't follow that path but knowing they probably will.

I looked across the room at two guys and two girls that all looked mad at the world and as we left at the same time listened to them fighting all the way to their car and dropping the f word every other word.

Abi actually got bullied in the play area and was crying like crazy. She climbed out with tears running down her face and just held onto me sobbing. I couldn't really get the whole story out of her but she did tell me that the girl that did it told her she couldn't come talk to me and that was the worse part I guess. It made me so sad.

So, anyway the point of this story is that the rest of the night as I curled up in my warm home and watched a great movie while Doug played a video game and Abi slumbered upstairs I was overcome with gratitude. Gratitude for the husband and daughter that I have that may get on my nerves sometimes (as I do theirs) but are kind and loving. Gratitude for the knowledge of the gospel which I believe helps us to have hope and happiness. Gratitude for the family that I grew up in and the environment in which my parents created for us so that no matter where we lived we were surrounded by peace and love.

We weren't an active mormon family. I went to church when I was Abi's age but I don't remember it. I don't remember going again until I was about 11. But during all those years we still had rules about Sunday, we still read scriptures, we still had faith in our home. I am thankful for that.

My parents read. I am grateful for that example and for the fact that they nurtured my love of reading by giving me books as well as letting me read books that were not 'kid' books because I got bored too easy in books at my level back then. I got my LDS Living magazine yesterday and they had some facts about reading in it. They said the average American visits the library 7 times a year and 25% of Americans did not read a single book last year. This shocked me although I'm not sure why it did since Doug isn't much of a reader, but I'm at the library at least once a week and I read a book or more a week. I am so grateful for that hobby and love.

Anyway, this has been a pretty rambling post but those are all the things I have been thinking about the past few hours. Now I'm off to get ready for 8:30 church!