Thanksgiving

Lots of people are doing the "gratitude posts" all over social media this year.  I myself tried to be good about posting something daily on Facebook, and I also downloaded this cute little iPhone app called Gratitude. I'ts pretty obvious that family and friends are usually at the top of the list for most people when it comes to giving thanks this time of year, and I am indeed very grateful for that. But I quickly add a "but" in there -- I am so grateful for spending Thanksgiving with family BUT I wish I could spend more time with them.  Guess it comes with the territory of living away from family.  So I keep trying to find a "BUT-less" gratitude statement and I guess it's this...that my incredible three year old son showed an amazing amount of bravery on Friday evening after getting into a losing battle with his sister and slamming his chin against the corner of a wooden sofa in the apartment we were staying at Tignes, requiring four stitches and a big injection to the cut...while he cried a ton when he actually cut his chin once he was on the doctor's table he didn't move a muscle, he didn't cry and he didn't complain at all.  Then he was so proud of himself he kept telling us he was so brave.  And then when we got to school this morning and a friend asked him "what happened?" he said "You should've seen the other guy".  (coached by his Dad of course).  And that his wonderful older sister felt so concerned for his baby brother she spent the entire time he was at the doctor writing him "get well notes" (she also felt partly responsible about his accident so she had a huge amount of guilt that we had to try to talk her out of!).  So I guess what I'm saying is I'm grateful for how my kids never seize to amaze me. Never ever ever. No buts about that.


I'm also grateful for this amazing view.  I got what seems to have been the flu over the weekend so skiing was out of the question for me; I barely had enough energy on Friday to watch the kids sledding...But once I started feeling better I went out with my sister around Tignes for walking and usually stumbled upon a view or two like this.  The altitude wasn't the only thing that left me breathless!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gigi's Baby Shower

Image
Even though I had barely done any planning with the exception of sending out the Evite , I did manage to pull off a very nice baby shower for Gigi. We did it at Essencha Tea House on Madison because we were too many to do it at the Bonbonerie . I got some decorations at Factory Card Outlet and recycled some other ones from Ida's baby shower last September. We had a great showing and the food at Essencha Tea House was really great. I had to bring Gabi with me because Jose had a soccer game but she did OK, even though she was a little tired because she skipped her afternoon nap. In any case, if anyone has a baby or wedding shower to plan, or just wants to go to eat at a nice place, I highly recommend Essencha Tea House . Oh, and the best part is that they serve breakfast all day, which as any friend of mine can bear witness to, is a HUGE plus for me. Speaking of which, after we got home and Gabi finally napped, we went to Boston Market followed by Graeter's . And tha...
Read more

Geneva UNICEF Half-Marathon

Image
I finally did it! Best thing about the half-marathon yesterday? First, that it's over. Second, that I can rest for a couple of weeks before getting back into running. The weather was terrible on Saturday so we had no idea what would happen on Sunday for the race.  But we got really lucky because we got PERFECT weather -- not too warm, not too cold. And the rain held off until the moment I literally crossed the finish line.  There were actually moments when the sun was shining bright where it was actually a bit too hot. I had my iPhone GPS to help me keep pace (since all the markers were in KM and I still get confused about that) and I was doing really well.  I think I was on pace to finish between 2:03 and 2:05.  At mile 9 I saw Jose and the kids and that was so exciting I had to hold the tears in (cause otherwise I get kind of an asthma attack while running if I'm too excited).  Then right after I saw them my iPhone died.  There went my music, and th...
Read more

Running

My friend Tom turned me to TED for the first time a few year ago.  Then another friend said on Twitter that the TED iPad app was awesome.  Since I have little TV to watch here in Geneva TED has become my 20 minutes a day before going to sleep where I try to see an interesting video to make me think about something else other than work and the kids (then I try 20 min. of meditation right before going to sleep).  So last Friday night I saw this TED video on running and was very intrigued by the Tarahumara story .  I didn't know whether to believe the whole TED speech by Christopher McDugall or not but my friend German had been trying to convince me for a while to try barefoot running which I was honestly too scared to try (I've always had either knee or ankle problems and have felt that I need all the protection I can get in the form of really bulky but stable shoes). But last night after I saw ANOTHER amazing speech from TED on running , I decided to download the book...
Read more