Celebrate and Grow

 "When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow."- Shauna Niequist

Besides the things I am thankful for every day: my health, my family, my friends, my job, a career where I feel fulfilled and very happy, I realized how grateful I am for a few other things I don't normally think of this past week.

1. Spare keys. I almost didn't make it home for Thanksgiving due to locking myself out of my apartment (typical, I know). While the story gets a little more complicated than that, the main point is that the incident really just led to more quality time with people before leaving for home.
2. RG3. The Redskins beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. It was the best first half I've seen played the Redskins in a long time and, in spite of a rough season (as always), I've never been more proud and excited for the team.
3. Moms. My mom made the entire Thanksgiving meal for our entire family and sent me back home with tons of food. Mike's mom told me I didn't wreck Thanksgiving and was completely supportive when I had locked myself out of my apartment and delayed her departure for Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for moms.
4. Constantine Maroulis. I also had the opportunity to see Constantine Maroulis in Jekyll and Hyde at the Kennedy Center and he was amazing! The rest of the show was a little ehh, but it made me feel like a person who actually goes to see shows a lot when I could critique it a little.
5. Music. Pandora Christmas station is all I listen to at work. All day. At night I listen to WASH FM's Christmas station and I listen to Delilah talk about love and stuff in her soothing voice and the callers all make my heart so warm. I've been listening to new Paper Route lately, too, and  Relient K's Let it Snow Baby, Let it Reindeer which is a holiday staple. I'm going to a gospel Christmas concert next week put on by my university's choir and am excited for that. There are no holidays without music.

I can't believe tomorrow is December! And this Sunday is the first day of Advent!