Thankful Thursdays #3

Yes, I forgot about #2.  Get over it.  I've had a busy week, and while I didn't forget to thank God I was still kicking, I DID forget to post here last week...  ah, well, I'll beef this week's post up a bit...

I'm thankful for:

My health.  I've been suffering from pretty bad pain in my hips (and complaining about it here, so I think you're all pretty aware of it!), so bad that I up and went to an accupuncturist; I was willing to try (almost) anything.  I wasn't sure his needles were working, although there seemed to be some mild relief, or at least, a lessening of the severity of the pain.  Not only was he working directly on my hips, but he was working on my pain management centers, too.  During one of our meetings, he recommended that I take two capsules of turmeric daily; he said that he's been taking them for 15 years and even at his age (55/60-ish), he's joint-pain-free 90% of the time.  I bought the capsules at his office and promptly forgot about them.  Until I got an email from our friend A a month later, who raved about how she read about the turmeric on my blog, tried it, and is pain free!  I don't think I finished reading her email before I was running upstairs to take one!  It's been a few weeks, and all of a sudden I realized my arthritic fingers were really not hurting anymore, AND I walked up 4 flights of stairs the other day and my hips didn't hurt until the 4th flight!  AND when I get up from my chair, it's not taking me 10 or 20 feet to walk without stiffness and pain.  And let's just refer back a couple of blog posts to my elbow issues:  I am grateful for my health.  And I thank God every day for those aches and pains 'cause they mean I'm alive, BUT fewer of them might be nice...

My friends:  I have so many wonderful friends and even if they don't read this blog, they deserve a great big shout-out and a HUGE thank you!  C, S, M, L, K, P, C, T, C, P, J, J, A, and tons more that I should mention:  Thank you for being my friend.  Thank you for being a part of my life.  Thank you for loving me, tolerating me, building me up, and helping me when I need it.  I love you, each and every one of you.

My books:  Regardless of format, hardcover, trade paper, board or e-book, I thank you for the worlds you've opened up to me, for the words I've learned, the characters I've met, the places I've visited in your pages.  Thank you for entertaining me, educating me, keeping me occupied, never boring me...  (okay, except for that one textbook...)  Thank you for being a constant in my life, for bringing me comfort and easing my loneliness, for making me giddy with joy, and sad to the depths of my soul.  Thanks, too, to the authors of all those books, old and new, quality and not-so-good - you have all had an effect on me and I thank you for that.  Thanks for all the quotes I found hidden in your paragraphs.  Thanks for the recipes, the secrets, the instructions, the photographs and illustrations...  I love my books!