An Early Thanksgivings

With the upcoming Thanksgiving, I've decided to go a little bit early and tell a few things that I am thankful for. These are in no particular order.

1. The wonderful opportunity to attend a good school like TU at almost no charge to me. It's a great feeling to know that I will graduate with a very small amount of student loans.

2. Living in America. We have freedoms here that people in other countries would not even begin to dream about. I love that I am able to freely choose my religion, as well as smaller things, like the clothes that I wear.

3. I'm thankful that, at least here, women are allowed to wear pants.

4. My wonderful family. I absolutely love my family. I cannot even imagine where I would be if my family didn't support me and care for me in the way that they do.

5. My trumpet. And my guitar. And my voice...which is awful. I love music. Ever since I started band in 6th grade music has been something that I am extremely passionate about. I love listening to music, and, even more so, making music. The times that I am not doing one of those two things are few and far between. I think that when I am home alone, I sing 75% of the time. The other 25% I have my music blaring.

6. My friends. I don't have many. And the ones that I do have I am not incredibly close to. But friends are important. Very important.

7. Cereal. I wonder how many meals this semester I have replaced with cereal. Or ice cream. Haha. I'm very healthy.

8. My goal-oriented attitude. If there is something that I truly want to do, I will find a way to do it. This has gotten me many places in life.

9. My job. Well, my jobS. I really enjoy my coworkers at TU, and I even like working at Cracker Barrel. It's rough. But they are both jobs that I enjoy.

10. My ethnicity. Though it's not something I express often, I really enjoy being able to say that I am Native American. And no, it's not just for the money that they give me. It's a pride thing I guess. My great-grandma was 100% Cherokee so I just think it's neat. However, I know very little about the Cherokee culture. It's definitely something that I need to work on.

11. Children. Being able to be an elementary teacher is something that I am ridiculously excited for. I love being with them. My second graders are even growing on me.

While there are hundreds of other things that I am thankful for. I'm going to wrap it up with one last one.

12. My boyfriend. Not a day goes by where I don't fall even more in love with him. Him and I have been through so much and yet we still have such a strong relationship. Things are hard, with him being gone, but we have made it through almost another full semester of long distance without too many problems. And even though he's not here, I know that he would drop everything and be here as soon as I said I needed him to come home. I love you, Lucas.

-Kristina