Thankful

Okay, I know it's Easter and not Thanksgiving, but today was one of those days where I realized how lucky I am and how many things I have to be thankful for. First I'm thankful for finally having green leaves and spring. I never realized how great spring is until I lived somewhere with such a miserable winter. It's just amazing watching green leaves pop up on trees and the grass coming back.
I'm thankful I have friends and family to give me recipes and that I have the ability to make the recipes (though maybe not as good as they can make them). I'm thankful to have to ability to make a big dinner and have friends to come over to eat it. I made a huge lunch/dinner this afternoon and we had some folks over to eat - great people, decent food, and good times. I'm so thankful that even though we live over 800 miles from our families we have friends that have become our St. Louis families.
After the meal (and two deserts), Cody and I played a game of chess - I lost again, but I realized that I'm thankful to have such a smart guy and thankful that I can almost hang with him in chess - I haven't beat him yet.
Then I ran around the park and watched the leaves, the ducks, and felt the cool spring breeze -I'm so thankful for all those things and the ability to run. Just being able to be out there and run fast (for me) in the breeze and watch the scenery is amazing.