A Year of Gratitude - April 2024 Snapshot

I mentioned at the beginning of the year that my word for 2024 is GRATITUDE.  To help myself keep the focus on this word, I started keeping a gratitude journal on January 1, and I’ve been writing at least 3-4 things I’m grateful for every single day.  Some days I’ve felt so overwhelmed with gratitude that I haven’t been able to pick just 3-4, so I’ve listed even more. 

To hold myself accountable, and to keep this word at the forefront of my mind all year, I thought I might share a little snapshot of the musings from my gratitude journal each month here on the blog.  I’ll only be pulling one item from my gratitude journal per day to share here (okay, maybe sometimes more than one) as I don’t want to go overboard, and also because some of the things I write are things that I’d like to keep private.  :o) 

Some of the things will be really big things like good health and good relationships, some things may be humorous, and some things will be the little things that most of the time go unnoticed.  Overall, though, the purpose of this whole exercise (and my choosing of this word this year) is to remember that even on the very worst of days, there is ALWAYS something for which to be grateful.

Always.

April was a pretty good month.  We started out the month in Disney World, so you can’t beat that!  We also celebrated my birthday, and as always, I’m grateful for another year.  I’m not one to get upset about getting older… I see it as a gift, and I’m one of those who believes that you’re only as old as you feel, anyway.  And I feel 25, so I’m going to stick with that.  ;o)

My dizziness (stemming from my vertigo from last July) was still very much present in April, and I started having issues again when walking/jogging, probably because of the change in weather as it’s been much warmer.  That said, I didn’t have any actual vertigo spells in April, so that was a win.

My daytime dose of vertigo medicine is still causing unwanted side effects mentally, emotionally, and physically (they make me soooo sleepy when I take my whole dose at night) so that’s been putting a damper on everything, but there’s not much I can do about it.  I’m on the smallest dose possible and I’m using a pill cutter to cut that dose in half during the day, so it’s not possible to take anything smaller.  On the plus side, the medicine has improved my anxiety tremendously, so that’s been a benefit.  It just stinks that it has the yucky side effects, too.  But right now, the pros (being able to walk and function and drive) outweigh the cons, so I’m sticking with it.

In the meantime, I’m still just trying to trust in God, and hope that it all goes away eventually.  Time will tell.

With that said, let’s get to all of the good things that came out of the month of April!

In April I was grateful for…

 

1. A safe trip down to Disney World, the fact that our kids are such excellent travelers, and that Brian does all of the driving on our road trips since I have such horrible driving anxiety.
2. Honest people in the world!  Olivia left her belt bag on a ride in Hollywood Studios, and Brian’s Magic Band fell off in a restaurant, and we were able to retrieve both items without issue because honest people turned them in.  Oh, and I was also grateful for SUCH a fun day in Hollywood Studios!
3. Being able to ride Soarin’ TWICE without having any major issues with vertigo or dizziness (only a little bit of that boat-rocking sensation for about 30 minutes afterward) since it’s my favorite ride in Disney World.  And also, for ponchos since it rained a lot of the day.
4. Beautiful weather, lots of fun family time, yummy food at dinner, and a kind blog reader who stopped me to say hello in Animal Kingdom.
5. Another trip around the sun.  The privilege of being able to be at Disney World on my actual birthday.  And for being able to ride an actual roller coaster with minimal aftereffects.  Oh, and for being able to retrieve my vertigo pill that rolled in the crack of the sidewalk.  Lol.  (And then I was thankful for days and weeks afterward that I didn’t end up with some kind of illness or disease for consuming something that had fallen on the ground and rolled into the crack in Magic Kingdom where thousands of feet walk every day.)
6. A safe trip home and being able to sleep in my own bed for the first time in a week.  There’s no place like home.
7. Funfetti cake and dirt cake.  And for my Momma and my mother-in-law for making said cakes for me.
8. God’s grace after a long day of feeling frazzled.
9. Wonderful teachers who send me pictures of our kiddos during the school day so I can see what they’re up to.
10. Brian for picking up Olivia from dance this year so I can cook and have dinner on the table when they get home.
11. A heart-to-heart with a few ladies at the school, and for the ability for all of us to be vulnerable with each other and pray together. 
12. A busy evening to distract me from my worries.
13. A beautiful homily by our Pastor during Mass.
14. Brian for being able to fix my iTunes disaster without losing any of my music or play lists.
15. Being able to have a plumber come out the same day and install a new water heater for us since ours broke overnight.  I’m also grateful that he was able to increase the temperature on our hot water and increase the pressure.  I didn’t realize how bad off we had been for the last 14 years until he changed it.
16. The most luxurious shower that morning…the water pressure and temperature increase made a tremendous difference!
17. The best ENT doctor of all-time.  I went in for a completely different reason, and he ended up taking me back on as a vertigo patient because he was concerned that everyone else had given up on me (aside from my GP, of course).
18. A kind, elderly gentleman who gave out hand-carved and painted hearts with crosses and Bible verses on them at Chick-Fil-A.  He just made our evening, and my Bible verse couldn’t have been more fitting.
19. A new Taylor Swift album with absolutely stunning lyrics, many of which I can relate to.  It’s nice to have someone put into words some of the things that I’ve been thinking my whole life.
20. Lots of outdoor time and manual labor caring for new plant babies, pressure washing, and caring for all of the things that we have.
21. The view outside of my office window… it is seriously gorgeous now that the trees have filled in for summer!
22. A heart-to-heart with Olivia… I love when we have big, good conversations, and I’m grateful that she trusts me and talks to me about anything and everything.  I hope it stays that way always.
23. God, who carries me though all of life’s ups and downs. 
24. This morning dose of vertigo medicine because it has seemed to calm my anxiety right down.  It may have yucky side effects, too, but it’s been nice to have a break from the anxiety and the horrendous neck tension that goes along with it.
25. Another year on this planet with my friend, Jeannine!  We’ve been celebrating birthdays together for nearly 30 years.  Happy birthdaaaay!
26. A super fun evening with our poker night group.  We always have the best conversations and we have so much fun together!
27. To have my girl home after a sleepover.  I always hate when my babies are away from home.
28. Lots of productivity… I got so much done.
29. Having all of my Disney blog recaps done!  Whew.  They were a LOT of work, and I didn’t think I was ever going to be done with them.
30. A coffee date with my friend, Khristina, and lots of fun conversation about her new bookstore.  She inspires me!

 

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my month! 

Happy Monday, y’all!  What is something you’re grateful for today?