A Heart Full of Gratitude

Today I'd like to share with you how grateful I am to be feeling so well. The sun is shining gloriously this morning in Chicago and when the sun shines, I'm happiest. There is definitely something about the sun that lifts my spirits. I absolutely love sunny days! Today makes day 9 since surgery. I’m feeling stronger every day. And I hurt less too each day. So grateful! Last night my cousin Lilly came over to visit and brought me so many fun and thoughtful gifts. She brought me flowers, an iTunes gift card (she knows how much I love music) and CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES! OMG! Love her to death for her sweetness. I think what I loved most though was our time together. We spent hours talking and laughing. It had been a while since we both had an opportunity to sit and really visit and connect. Last night we spent some time recalling some of our childhood memories and oh my gosh, at one point, we laughed so hard we could hardly breathe. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a few weeks and it felt so-o good. I have to say, we were quite adventurous little girls to say the least and I loved recalling those days of yesterday. She reminded me last night that it was my sister Alicia and I who taught her how to do cart wheels ON MY FULL SIZE BED when we were teeny tiny creatures. Oh my gosh, on the bed? Seriously???  How dangerous is that??? I can’t even imagine, thankfully we survived it.  I have to admit that I loved recalling days when I was tiny enough to pull off something like that. I absolutely love the vision! I totally remember that season in my life (when my sister and I learned how to do cart wheels). We would watch each other do cart wheels endlessly and as we practiced, we would critique each other on our form. Yes, our little perfectionistic tendencies began very early in life. I''m convinced its an incurable disease. ; )  Cartwheels were so fun and we wanted the world to learn how to do them too. Those are such sweet memories. 

Sometimes, its fun to break the rules. And in true kid fashion, I had a chocolate covered strawberry for breakfast. They were a mouth full of joy! Thank you Lilly! Grateful for such a glorious morning indeed!

In this post, I’m including photos of the chocolate covered strawberries (yum!), cards, flowers and some of the other feel better gifts I received recently. Grateful beyond what words can express for all the love, calls, cards, e-mails, text messages, support, gifts and visits I have received this week. My cup runneth over ...