Fortunate

• favored by or involving good luck or fortune; lucky.  Synonyms: lucky, favored, blessed, charmed

• auspicious or favorable.  Synonyms: favorable, advantageous, providential, auspicious, welcome, beneficial, fortuitous

As I was sitting here today wondering what I should write about, all I could think about is How Fortunate Am I?  Things aren’t always great and peachy, but I always know that I am extremely fortunate with this life I have been given.

I came home from an early golf game this morning and could hear everyone going about their business puttering around the house and it just made me think How Fortunate Am I?  Why do I say that?  Well for starters, I am surround by people I love; mom is in the cottage, my girls and our 5 grandchildren live 5 minutes away, my sister in law is a short 10 minute drive, our niece and her fiancé live 15 minutes away and the newest addition is my sister in law and her husband who have just moved in upstairs! Again, How Fortunate Am I?  The only thing missing is our son, who is still on the mainland so he is a 2-hour ferry ride away, but we are lucky that he is close enough to come home for holidays and special get togethers plus we carve out time to see him whenever we are in Vancouver so I still consider that a win!

I must tell you, I am so excited about having my sister and brother in law staying with us upstairs, we have so much fun together plus we have many of the same interests; we ATV together, golf together, hunt together, fish together, play cards, you name it, they are always 2 people that we enjoy spending time with and when we get together, it is always good for a laugh and a half! You know the kind of laughing I am talking about, the kind that tears run out of your eyes, when you have a hard time catching your breath and your sides hurt, that is the best kind of laughing! I am so thankful to have the opportunity to spend some quality time with my family and with so many of them moving up our way, I ask myself every day, How Fortunate Am I? Yep, I look around and see so many things that make me remember How Fortunate I Am.  I have a family that loves me even though they have heard me sing, I have had the good fortune to have many amazing people who have helped and influenced me to become

the person I am today, Baby Gracie giggles make my heart burst with happiness (as do all my grandchildren), my kids can always make me laugh even if it is usually at my expense, every day is a new day and I can choose to forgive and forget every single day if I want to.  I am fortunate to be married to my best friend and will be spending the rest of my life with him.  I am fortunate to have a beautiful home on a beautiful island and we have filled it with love. I am fortunate to have everything I need and more.  And I am thankful beyond words, even if I momentarily forget how fortunate I am, I am thankful.

These 3 things sum up my thoughts when I consider How Fortunate I Am.

• When we choose to be thankful for the big and small blessings in our lives, we foster a heart of humility and a spirit of graciousness.
• “The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” Henry Ward Beecher
• “… it’s a blessed thing to love and feel loved in return.”A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly