My Life Story told by gratitude

At church, one of the speakers exemplified gratitude by narrating his life by telling what he was thankful for from his preschool years to the present. It was fun to listen to, so I'm going to do the same thing.

When I was four and five I remember being grateful for:
  • my Big Bird big-wheal bike
  • tape recorders so that Desha and I could record our voices and then listen to them
  • songs at preschool
  • my pretend ironing board
  • our giant hill in the back yard for rolling and sledding down
  • our swing set
  • my yellow blanky

When I was six and seven I remember being grateful for:

  • barbies
  • my two wheeler
  • dress-ups
  • being able to sleep with Desha and play Bedknobs and broomsticks
  • piano lessons
  • my purple backpack

When I was eight I remember being grateful for:

  • being baptised
  • my new set of scriptures
  • my new baby sister
  • all the second grade kids that were nice to me when I changed schools from CA to CO
  • Squirty, our pet dog
  • our brand new magenta van
  • my first real friend in CO, Abbie Steinbrueck
  • living next to my Robertson cousins

When I was nine, ten, and eleven I remember being grateful for:

  • our new house
  • cows in our backyard
  • summer
  • the giant bush in Grandma's backyard that was the perfect fort
  • my cousins
  • sidewalk chalk to make bike racing tracks on our cul-de-sac
  • being with Dad

When I was twelve and thirteen I remember being grateful for:

  • the girls in Young Womens who were nice to me
  • the 2:35 bell indicating that one more day of middle school was over
  • band
  • cute boys
  • my journal
  • babysitting
  • cousins
  • going to the temple to do baptisms

When I was fourteen and fifteen, I remember being grateful for:

  • Church dances
  • drama
  • choir
  • prayer
  • Dad's typing skills to help me when I was in a time-crunch for reports
  • seminary because it meant that I didn't have to ride the morning bus
  • speech and debate
  • being Mormon

When I was sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, I remember being grateful for:

  • my license and a car
  • having jobs (secretary's assistant at dentist, babysitter, playgroup owner, and assembly line worker)
  • musicals
  • modest prom dresses
  • good dates
  • instant messaging
  • my patriarchal blessing
  • my parents' trust
  • learning about biology
  • graduation gifts
  • lots of friends

When I was nineteen and twenty I remember being grateful for:

  • my fifth ACT score that allowed me to get into BYU
  • callings
  • SO many friends that were of my same faith
  • really hot mormon boys
  • all you can eat every day
  • freedom
  • inspiration
  • going to the temple every week
  • boyfriends
  • new perspectives
  • the BYU library
  • inspiration
  • Jine
  • Megan
  • my rolling backpack
  • clean dishes
  • Mom
  • honest roommates
  • my rental piano
  • BYU dances
  • benefits of being a music major like free tkts to all of the arts performances
  • knowing every secret study place on campus
  • sharing meals
  • Walmart
  • Friday night 1:30 am curfew

When I was twenty one, after living in Thailand, I remember being grateful for:

  • food
  • clean streets
  • clothes
  • stable government
  • books
  • literacy
  • folk songs
  • money
  • toilet paper
  • cake
  • laughter
  • hugs
  • cameras
  • humidity
  • The Book of Mormon

When I was 22, 23 and 24 I remember being grateful for:

  • taking chances
  • Las Vegas
  • feeling my complete, best self with Jeremy
  • the golden gate bridge
  • the word Love
  • temple marriage
  • wedding gifts
  • dancing
  • a piece of paper with these words: Bachelor's of Arts
  • pencil sharpeners
  • collaboration
  • un-invited hugs
  • accurate assessments
  • planning time
  • that invigoration when a lesson clicked and was remembered
  • witnessing 25 ten-year olds sing and sign "I've Got Peace like a River"
  • narrow-minded administrators. Yes I was grateful because they taught me some important lessons
  • unexpected homemade dinners and clean laundry
  • square dancing
  • Ryan and Chelsea
  • being told I'm the coolest, nicest, prettiest, and best teacher
  • The Atonement

Now that I'm twenty five, I'm thankful for:

  • sea urchins
  • faith
  • palm trees
  • sick teachers
  • clear lesson plans
  • faithful priesthood leaders
  • Prop 8, not because it passed, but because of the work it required of me and the things I learned from working for it
  • temple ordinances
  • The Nilsson Family
  • laughing everyday with my husband
  • our dishwasher
  • our piano
  • having time
  • knowing and learning my family history
  • blogs
  • peace
  • the future

Comments

California-Lineberry said…
That was fun to read!!! Isn't funny how quickly the things we are grateful transition from toys and things to people and memories :) You ROCK...and we are THANKFUL for the Zavoral's!!
November 28, 2008 at 7:55 AM
Anonymous said…
ummm, you forgot "yellow blankie" on all the lists after the first list ;) I remember you bawling as a kid, not a little kid, when we'd be packing for vacations and you always tried to sneak it in your suitcase except that it filled the entire suitcase so dad would pull it out and you'd cry and beg and cry some more!!

i forgot about bedknobs and broomsticks! ~desha
November 28, 2008 at 2:58 PM

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4th of July

Image
  Our celebrations for Independence Day 2020 were very different than what we're used to. This is my favorite holiday along with Easter, and I try to go big each year, so it took a lot of stretching for me to find ways to make the week special with so many Covid limitations. We ended up having a lot of fun! First we got things festive looking around the house with art projects.  Tanner really liked painting, with straws!  Dallin really liked it, too! We went to Walmart to buy some clothes for Mom, Tanner, and Dallin. Mom really wanted to see how she looked so Tanner took some pictures. We couldn't go into the changing rooms cuz of Covid, and there weren't any mirrors around, so this is the only thing we could do! Cool guys ready to celebrate in their new shirts!! Can you see the great horned owl in the tree? This is our view from our balcony. There it goes!! Massage time for Mom!! Dallin really wanted to be a masseuse, so this is one way for him to do it! Grandpa Papa and...
Read more

A Happy New Year

Image
Between Christmas and New Year's, we had some great vacationing. Jeremy worked on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve (cuz they are slower days), and then took off Mondays. So he had a much needed relaxing two weeks. And we loved it, too, because we got to see lots of Daddy! The boys played while Daddy snow-blowed, and then Jeremy took them around the yard a few times in the sled. Tanner is getting very creative with his imaginary drum sets. One day, he used the remote controls for percussion instruments. We went to the Minneapolis Zoo on one of Jeremy's days off! (Thanks, Uncle Steve and Aunt Katie for the giftcard!) You might be wondering, "Why go to the zoo in the winter? Isn't it freezing there?" The answer is yes, it is actually colder than freezing. We wanted to go to the zoo because of the huge indoor tropic exhibit they have! Dallin and I enjoyed the toddler playroom.  Dallin kept finding the trickiest ways to climb on the exhibit. He didn't want to g...
Read more

Summer Begins!

Image
Summer is in the air! This post features photos from end of May to beginning of June 2021. Field Trip at the Rose Garden in Balboa Park. Homeschool project with Aunt Katie.  This lesson they explored dragon fruit and made really yummy parfaits. Final days of Bucket Drumming class, Music Mappers class, Family Music class, and private lessons.  Tanner worked for me and earned $10 each week as my teacher's assistant in Bucket Drumming class. After training him, he did really well. Also, I recorded students playing piano and singing for a virtual recital. I hired someone to edit and compile the videos and it turned out darling. However, it was very time consuming. Dallin reading to Tanner Silly snack Baseball Game with our friend from Little League Sailing in Mission Bay (maybe on Memorial Weekend?) with JoMatta.  Jeremy was really interested in taking us sailing. He watched a bunch of YouTube videos about sailing, rented us a sailboat and was the captain of the ship. We had ...
Read more