What I'm Thankful For

1.  I'm Thankful our practice is strong.

There at the beginning, when we received one week's notice from our front desk and I stepped into the office, I didn't know if we would make it.  As we had patient after patient call to transfer their records from our office to the doctor's just across town, the doctor who had worked in our office 3 years prior to us buying the practice and who had our ex-hygienist working for him one day a week, Brad and I faced the reality that we may go bankrupt and all our hard work and sacrifice up to that point would have been in vain.  We continued marketing, we continued serving the public and we gave everything we had to breathe life into the investment we made.  Both Brad and I have put our whole souls into our practice and I am truly grateful that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm so glad our hours have increased, our staff is growing and our patients know and trust us enough to help us become strong. 

2.  I'm thankful for repentance and forgiveness.

Having strong family relationships requires both.  I've always known this, but as I have entered the teenage parenting stage I find myself in uncharted territory and I am definitely making many mistakes.  I find that at times I'm impatient, unkind and forceful of what I want for them.  I find myself looking on my actions from the outside and not liking what I see.  I'm grateful that change is possible and that my children forgive me and let me change.  I'm thankful too that I have a forgiving heart as mean words seem to fly out of the mouth of teenagers much more quickly than they did when they were younger.  We're all growing, changing and discovering new territories together, a journey that requires repentance and forgiveness from us all.

3.  I'm thankful for laughter and good humor.

One of my favorite conference talks was given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin in October of 2008.  My favorite portion of the talk follows:

"The first thing we can do is learn to laugh. Have you ever seen an angry driver who, when someone else makes a mistake, reacts as though that person has insulted his honor, his family, his dog, and his ancestors all the way back to Adam? Or have you had an encounter with an overhanging cupboard door left open at the wrong place and the wrong time which has been cursed, condemned, and avenged by a sore-headed victim? There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh.

I remember loading up our children in a station wagon and driving to Los Angeles. There were at least nine of us in the car, and we would invariably get lost. Instead of getting angry, we laughed. Every time we made a wrong turn, we laughed harder.

Getting lost was not an unusual occurrence for us. Once while heading south to Cedar City, Utah, we took a wrong turn and didn’t realize it until two hours later when we saw the “Welcome to Nevada” signs. We didn’t get angry. We laughed, and as a result, anger and resentment rarely resulted. Our laughter created cherished memories for us.

I remember when one of our daughters went on a blind date. She was all dressed up and waiting for her date to arrive when the doorbell rang. In walked a man who seemed a little old, but she tried to be polite. She introduced him to me and my wife and the other children; then she put on her coat and went out the door. We watched as she got into the car, but the car didn’t move. Eventually our daughter got out of the car and, red faced, ran back into the house. The man that she thought was her blind date had actually come to pick up another of our daughters who had agreed to be a babysitter for him and his wife.

We all had a good laugh over that. In fact, we couldn’t stop laughing. Later, when our daughter’s real blind date showed up, I couldn’t come out to meet him because I was still in the kitchen laughing. Now, I realize that our daughter could have felt humiliated and embarrassed. But she laughed with us, and as a result, we still laugh about it today.

The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."

  

I loved my dad's dry sense of humor growing up.  I loved how he would sing along to his favorite songs from the 50s and 60s in the car as we traveled 16 hours from Washington to Utah.  I can still hear him singing, "Yackety Yak. Don't talk back" and though he may have felt silly just letting go it is one of my own cherished memories.  It was my dad that got me into SNL and all the comedies thereafter with his, "That's the ticket," quotes.  As you may know it's still one of past times to sit and watch comedians or funny videos on youtube

One of the things that first attracted me to Brad was that he could make me laugh.  When we went on our first date as Elder and Sister recently returned from our missions and I was so put off by being asked out by a missionary from my mission it was his humor that had me agreeing to a second date.   

Or now, as I call Jordan retarded (I know that's not politically correct but it's what we call each other when someone does something dumb) and he replies back to me that he's not retarded just special in his silly voice all my anger dissipates.  

And when we have moments likes this where we're all just being silly and laughing it makes heavy worries and any problems melt away as if there's nothing in the world but us and the time we enjoy together.