College Bound. Again.

I had my registration session at St Kate's last night, and I'm all set to begin classes on April 3rd. I'm taking "The Reflective Woman," a writing intensive course that is required for all Katie graduates, and "Business Law." I have a paper and 100 page reading assignment due the first day of class. I think I'm going to have my work cut out for me with this weekend college stuff. Four hour classes that meet only 8 times - eek! It is somewhat unfortunate that classes are scheduled to begin the weekend of my birthday, but I am still excited to return to college. It's been so long since I've been -- it'll be nice to be in a learning environment again.

I finished my first bird a few nights ago - a Cardinal that hangs in Elena's room. Just like I promised I would do. It was acutally quite an easy pattern to follow and took about an hour to complete. I was sooo excited to get home after such a long day yesterday to find 4 skeins of Blue Sky Cotton from Lucinda waiting on my kitchen counter!!! I can't wait to start on some more birds. She had a poster on her blog the other day that read, "Be happy for this moment, this moment is your life," and I just loved it.

So often I get frustrated with all that I have to do -- all that is asked of me as a wife, mother, student, daughter, friend, etc and I want to throw my hands up and scream -- and then I read this green banner on her blog-- and I realized that if I take this to heart, and truly apply it everyday, perhaps I can learn how to be thankful for every moment. To be thankful that I have a child who frustrates me and screams and kicks and is alive and perfect and healthy. To be thankful that I have a husband who, even though he watches baseball all the time without end and tunes me out and leaves his dirty clothes on the floor, he truly is my partner. To be happy that I have a job, even if I don't love it as much as I once did. To be much more satisfied with all that I probably take for granted, and to try, as best I can, to remember that I really am very very lucky.

I feel blessed to have stumbled across so many amazing people through the interwebs and the blog world. To see the life of a child through Mandy's photos, to read of Simone's triumph, to be a part of Lucinda's grief - and the journey to help her heart to heal, to make hats with Susie, and to stay in touch with my cousin and her family. I'm thankful to all of you for being such an important part of my life - and of who I am becoming.

Hearts,

A