Birthday Grattitudes

Today is one of the days of the year that I've paid less and less attention to as the years have gone by. As a kid your birthday is always exciting. I remember putting up a list of things that I wanted on the cork board in the kitchen as my birthday got closer. My birthday to me was that hope that I might be able to get the things I still wanted from Christmas that Santa hadn't delivered on. Now that I've had a few birthdays and I'm married and in our own house things aren't as exciting anymore. I usually get some cash from the relatives and that's about it. I'm not saying this to complain. It's great. I don't know what to get myself anymore either so it's just easier for everyone.

For this birthday though rather than putting up a list of things I want (lets face it that list usually goes on and on and won't ever end), I've decided that I want to write a list of things that I am grateful for.

I am grateful for my awesome wife. She pushes the limits of my comfort sometimes, but usually in a good way and helps me grow and look outside my own little world every now and then. I love that we can get goofy and laugh over nothing sometimes and that she puts up with me on my grumpy days.

I am grateful for the family that I have, and for the support that I feel from them. I remember as a little kid praying for a little brother. Not knowing anything about the difficulty my parents had just being able to get me, I didn't think anything of it when I got the brother I asked for. Watching old home videos it's a little funny to see that I was kind of a jerk sometimes, but other times I did ok (I hope). My parents always made time for us and I loved that. I loved family nights and the family parties for holidays and birthdays. I don't ever recall a time where I didn't feel loved in my family. Now that I'm married I have my wife's side of the family, and my mom remarried so there is that side of the family. I thought I had a big family before but it's nearly quadrupled in just the last few years.

I am grateful for my little "cruise" of shampoo. I know it sounds dumb but hear me out on this one. We've had this bottle of shampoo dang close to a year now. We bought a bottle of conditioner at the same time. I've used both. Once the conditioner ran out my grandma had given me another bottle of conditioner that was my grandpa's. I used that until it ran out. That shampoo bottle is still delivering even though I'm all out of conditioner. I keep thinking I need to get some more next time I go to the store, but I've forgotten the last few...oh...months or so. It's been awhile. I'm amazed that I'm still not out of shampoo. It reminds me that even though it's small Heavenly Father is still looking out for me, and is aware and loves me.

I am grateful for the job that I have. I started my first job when I was 11 (It was only for a couple of weeks but I still count it). It was probably more of a job for my parents and I just happened to get paid for it. I delivered papers in the wee hours of the morning. I've had quite a few jobs between then and now. I'm happy that I've been able to find something I enjoy doing and get paid for it.

I am also grateful for the many things and luxuries that I get to enjoy on a daily basis. Usually the problems I run into are "First World Problems" and rather pathetic and small compared to the rest of the world. I take a lot of things for granted that you don't notice or appreciate until you don't have it anymore.

I am grateful for this country that I live it. It isn't perfect and it isn't without it's problems, but it is a promised land and has many benefits that cannot be found elsewhere. On my mission there was a ward mission leader in one of the cities I served in that had a bumper sticker that said "Grateful to be an American". I have never seen another one like it. I've seen a lot of "Proud to be an American" stickers and others like it, but as far as I have seen there aren't very many that are grateful about it. Not that you have to display it on your car to be grateful but it can be seen in your attitude and the way you treat others and in many other ways.

I am grateful for the gospel. Those of us that have lived having the gospel all the time can easily take it for granted. Mostly because we don't know anything else, and haven't had to put any blood, sweat, and tears into it. Living in the "Utah Bubble" it was fairly easy for me to coast down the stream and see where it took me. It wasn't until my mission when I got out of Utah and tossed into the ocean known as Oregon that I had to row a bit and actually exercise my testimony and see what I was made of. You hear stories of people that drive for hours to get to church, or for days/weeks to get to a temple. It's a different thing entirely to SEE and experience it. I love Utah and don't foresee living anywhere else, but I think it is a wonderful thing to live outside Utah at lease once in your life so you can appreciate living here. It's not necessarily easier, I just prefer the problems here to the problems somewhere else.

This list can also go on and on, but I think I'll leave it at that for now.