Everything Beautiful: Give Thanks

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Give Thanks - Day 13

This is getting tougher as we go along. Not tough to pick out things I'm thankful for - but tough to be original, not cliche, and to think outside of the box!

So yesterday we got to head back to Grand Rapids to watch a soccer game. Marty's college coach is still coaching (at a different college) and put out a general invite to all his former players, friends and family to come watch his team in the WHAC conference finals. I think the last time we connected in person with coach was a good 10 years ago. So, back to our old stomping grounds we went.

Which leads me to this. I am thankful for Grand Rapids. I'm thankful for the college, for the hospitals that I birthed my children in, I'm thankful for lasting friendships. I'm thankful for the men and women who influenced my life and my husbands life (like Coach Veal and his family). I'm thankful for the beauty of the city and no matter where we live - nothing has ever compared to the west side of the state. I'm thankful for happy memories, for the laughter that so encompassed my life at that time. I'm thankful for Negasi and Emily and although we didn't get to see them this time around - I will forever be grateful for the day Marty found Negasi sitting at the soccer field at Union High School. I'm thankful for that time in my life where everything was fresh and new. So many good memories there, too many to count. I'm thankful for the fact that although many things in life change - the relationships with friends (like Keith and Sarah, Donnie and Sarah W and others!) we made there only grow stronger in the Lord.

Grand Rapids always feels like home when I go back. Yes, it has changed, it has grown and many places look nothing like they did when we were there - but there is something almost magical in my mind about the place we once called home. It is a place I could pick up and move back to at any moment in my life and be able to settle right back in where we left off. I miss it and I think I always will.

Cornerstone Goose Pond behind my dorm :) FULL of goose poop - and Marty got thrown in as part of a tradition called candlelight the night we were engaged :)