Keeping it Real: Gratitude

After these last two weeks of travel, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on my life and how fortunate I am. One of the things that comes along with sharing so much of my life is that you, the readers, see most of the highlights. And while I share many of the real moments and the low points in “Keeping it Real” posts, I’m sure it’s hard not to think “wow, she has it really good, what a life.”

Today I’m simply here to acknowledge how grateful I am for this life. I know that I am SO, SO fortunate, and that I do have it really good.

As you read, a few weeks ago we celebrated our 10th anniversary. One of the things that I am most thankful for is my husband. I could not have found a better person to spend my life with, and our trip last week was the perfect way to celebrate us. I am so lucky that we share the same sense of adventure, love for sport, food and travel.

This trip also reminded me how thankful I am for my health. Despite many chronic injuries I was able to do some incredible things. And while I was tired and sore, the pain was temporary. I am so grateful that my body held up through nearly 50 miles of hiking/climbing over 17,000ft of elevation in less than a week. I often get hung up on the things I can’t do, but today I am celebrating what I can do, and it was pretty awesome.

Another thing I am so, so grateful for are my parents and my in-laws. The Mini Fashionista stayed with my parents for the entire week that we were gone. I am grateful to have them as “babysitters”, but I am also so thankful that the Mini got to spend such quality time with them. I never had experiences like that with my grandparents growing up, and I think it’s such a special thing.

While we were away, my in-laws watched our dog Winston. In fact, nearly every time we travel (which is a lot), he goes to their house. I am so appreciative of their help, and I’m also so grateful that Winston doesn’t have to go to a kennel. Instead he goes on “vacation” too. They also help us with the Mini. She goes for sleepovers on a somewhat regular basis and loves spending time there. She is so lucky to have both sets of grandparents in her life, and someday I know she will realize just how lucky she is.

Lastly, I am grateful to have work that I can do from anywhere. I’m not tied to an office 8-5 everyday of the week. And while some of my work requires me to be in Portland, it doesn’t limit any of my travel. Besides my family and my health, there is nothing more important than having new experiences and adventures, especially those in the outdoors. This is really what I (we) live for. I am so grateful that both my work and my husband’s allow us to travel and have these incredible experiences regularly.

I couldn’t end this post without saying that I am grateful for this blog and the community of people that follow it, those of you that have been reading since the beginning, those of you who read regularly and especially those of you who comment! :) While it’s a platform to talk about superficial things like handbags and shoes, what I’ve found is that most of you like it even more when we talk about real things, like today’s post.

So thank you for reading today and everyday. Here’s to continued adventure, happiness and gratitude in my life and hopefully in yours too.