Luck? Good genes? You make the call.

Post by Teri @ Snarkfest

I consider myself tremendously lucky. I come from a broken home, where my parents divorced when I was 7. I have an older brother from my mom’s first marriage and 3 brothers and a sister from my dad’s first marriage. Raised by my mom with the son from her first marriage, mine was a happy childhood. Until she remarried when I was 13. The man she married was a raging, mean alcoholic. But she loved him. They divorced less than a year after they said “I Do”. What she could POSSIBLY have loved about him, I will never know. She always told me “When you grow up and fall in love, you’ll understand.” No, I won’t. I still don’t. After that experience, I always swore to myself I’d never put my children in a situation where they lived in fear of their father. I found a man that loves me tremendously, and loves his daughters even more. There are no drunken arguments, no household upheaval in the middle of the night because he doesn’t spend hours at a bar. I’m incredibly lucky that I’ve been married to the same man for 18 years, and that we love one another as much today as the day we said our own “I Do’s”.

I consider myself even luckier that I have given birth to two absolutely amazing daughters. They are happy and healthy. Things could be so much worse for us. The fact that the hardest part of raising them thus far has been the struggle to get them up and out the door to make the school bus every morning speaks volumes about how truly lucky I really am. I know of so many people who have children with special needs, behavioral issues, health issues, who have learning disabilities, who need help daily to get through their lives. And I look at my children and know that I am blessed. Lucky.

I have a job that I love. I live in a town that I love with friends that I cannot imagine being without. I was blessed to be born a very outgoing and social person. I’ve never had to deal with painful shyness, I don’t know what it’s like to be introverted. Some might say I never shut up. Whatever. I am lucky to be where I am today. I have friends who get me into all sorts of amazing situations. I help out with Relay for Life every year because I love my friend Holly who leads the charge here in town. I run half and full marathons because of my friend Lisa who kicks my ass on a daily basis. I laugh daily due to friends like Susan, Siobhan and Lynn. I am happy, and I am healthy, and yes, I am lucky.

And I am thankful. How about you? Tell me about the positives in your life. What keeps you going and what makes YOU happy?