Not only was last week one of my favorite holidays, St. Patty's Day, but while celebrating it I began to realize how lucky I am. Not lucky as in "The Luck Of the Irish" saying, but lucky because I have so many things to be thankful for right now. I'll tell you how and why I came to discover these things all while celebrating my heritage.
On St. Patrick's Day I woke up to a smiley son, which is a typical day. But I then got to surprise him with a donut covered in green sprinkles, a very special treat for him. Watching him lick the frosting off and say "hmmmmmm" made my heart swell a bit. Later that morning, we headed downtown St. Paul for the St. Patty's Day parade. This was Braden's second parade ever, the first being on the 4th of July when he was just 9 1/2 months old. Seeing his face light up at all the people, the horns blowing, and the dogs walking by was so fun. He was dancing to the Irish bagpipes and waving to all the people going by. He then realized that you are supposed to run out and get candy, so everytime he saw one hit the ground he would point at it and look at me for approval. I would cheer him on with a "yep, go get it buddy" or a "no, that's not candy Braden." We also watched the firetrucks cruise by and the irish dancers jig in the middle of the street. A couple hours later we were headed home. I turned around in the car and he was fast asleep. In that moment, I felt so lucky! Lucky to have a fun son to share these special traditions with. Lucky to be able to spend my weekdays days doing fun things with him. Lucky to have a toddler who can go with the flow and be happy taking in something new. Lucky that he had so much fun he was exhausted.
Then the weekend came and the celebrating of green continued. Joe and I had a date on Friday night to Mancini's. I have been talking about taking Joe here for years (I have been going with my family since I was a kid) and we hadn't gotten around to it yet. So, we were excited that we were finally going! Although we had to squeeze it in since his bus was late, it was still nice to have a nice meal, and some alone time together to talk without interruptions and responsibilities. In that moment, I felt lucky to have such a wonderful husband who I have so much fun with and we can laugh and have good conversation. I felt lucky to have great friends that live close by to watch Braden so we could have a date night. I felt lucky to have time away to re-charge as a stay-at home-mom.
Saturday the festivities continued. Our Realtor threw us a little housewarming party - the theme being St. Patty's Day of course. The house was decked out in green gear: beads, shamrock wear, green drinks, green food or St. Patty's day themed plates to hold the food. As people arrived, I felt so lucky to finally have this new house to entertain a bigger group. I felt lucky to have such wonderful friends who are excited to share this big milestone of moving into a new house. I felt blessed to have a generous Realtor to throw such an amazing party. I felt blessed to be so excited about a new house that I wanted to show people around. At the end of the night when I was cleaning up and a bit tired from standing on my feet all day, I was overwhelmed with how lucky I feel in life right now. AND not only do we have a new house, but we are going to be welcoming a new baby at the end of this summer. Wow, what a year for us!!
I know it's not just the luck of the irish either. I use the term "lucky" a lot above to go with my St. Patty's Day theme here. It just happens that over the Irish holiday weekend, I have spent a lot of time realizing how many blessings are in my life. I have a lot to be thankful for and I am making sure to appreciate all of it! I am giving lots of praise and thanks right now.
Are you taking time to appreciate all of the blessings you have been given? I hope so. It's easy to look at the "but I don't have this" or compare ourselves to someone else and what they have...but we must take the time to appreciate what we are given and live TODAY for what it is. You never know when it could change so we must be thankful.
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