Happy Thursday! Jen shared that she was doing a gratitude challenge series of blog posts this month and I’ve decided to join her!

The challenge is from Mirabelle Creations on Instagram and I love that account. Deanna makes fun enneagram graphics, holiday graphics, and other cute images.

Day 1: 3 things I am grateful for today

1-I survived the day after Halloween in an elementary school. 2-The weather is incredible. 3-Day of the Dead s’mores with lots of laughs Friday night.

Day 2: 3 things I love about my favorite place

My favorite place is the beach. It is one of the few places that I can just sit and relax. I love every single thing about the beach, but my three favorites are:

• My entire family is happy and calmer at the beach.
• Going to the beach is the activity. I/we pack up our things and go to the beach for the day. There is no decision making.
• I love listening to the ocean waves, the happy sounds of swimmers, feeling the sand with my feet, and that intoxicating ocean smell. It is a total sensory experience!

Day 3: Remember the last time you laughed so hard you cried

The last time I laughed until I cried was at our dining room table. One of the boys said something out of the blue and oh so funny! I laughed and laughed. Jeff laughed and laughed. Jack laughed and laughed. Luke laughed and laughed. It was one of those laughs that sticks with you for hours. I would randomly remember what they said and start laughing again. When Jeff and I got into bed, one of us mentioned it and we laughed again.

Day 4: Someone from your past you are grateful for

I am grateful for my swim coaches, all of them! I learned so much from them about swimming, good form in weight lifting, work ethic, coaching, how to have fun while working hard. In a full circle moment, the coach that first hired me to coach with him is now my boys’ swim coach. In another full circle moment with Jeff and swimming, Jeff coached Jack’s high school swimming coach. Whoa! In addition to helping me improve in something I loved (swimming), I turned all of that knowledge into a job. I coached summer and year round swim teams and taught swim lessons for over 15 years. When I was living in Charlotte, North Carolina and coaching a USS swim team, one of my former coaches was there recruiting for the college team he coached and I was on deck as a coach. It was another fun full circle moment. We are pool people and swimming or pools have touched just about every part of our life. Thinking about the fantastic coaches I had puts a smile on my face every time!

Day 5: A fear you are tackling or have overcome

I have exactly no gratitude for this fear but my biggest fear is frogs. I will not include any pictures here because they make me so uncomfortable! Last week, I showed a little bit of growth. I saw a frog/toad that I thought it was a leaf and only gave a small yelp when it hopped along. I didn’t scream, cry, run away, or anything like that, but I am so irrationally afraid of frogs!

Day 6: A failure or rejection you are grateful for

I tried out for field hockey my freshman year in high school and I was cut. Oh boy did that one hurt! I felt like high school had rejected me before I even started. I decided to be a team manager to stick with the sport and be around the team. I worked hard over the year to try out again my sophomore year. It paid off. I made the team and we ended up winning the state championship my junior year. Unfortunately, my senior year we lost in the state championship match. That rejection taught me to be resilient, work hard, and keep trying. It was ROUGH in the moment, but I look back on that experience for strength and reassuring more often than I ever thought I would.

Day 7: Something in nature you are grateful for

This will come as no surprise, but I am so grateful for the sunshine. I love it all summer long! I love it on a cold winter day! I love the sunshine on my cheeks every single day! It lifts my spirit, warms my heart, and helps me find the good in things.

Even when the sun is leaving us for the day, it gives us something beautiful!

That felt good to think about things I am grateful for today and from my past. I know that keeping a gratitude journal is a wonderful idea and so good to develop the habit of looking for the positive, but I’ve never done it. This month is going to be a good start to starting the habit of noticing gratitude. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!