I Get To

So often my posts seem negative...usually because I'm venting about the whole PCOS sucks/I can't get pregnant thing.  This past week I've had reminder upon reminder that there is so much to be thankful for.
This past week we marked the 24th year since my Uncle was killed by a drunk driver.  I never really had the chance to know him but I know my mom feels the pain of his loss.  The anniversary reminded me that life is but a vapor and can be dissipated at any moment.
Yesterday I lost a "sister".  For those of you not into the whole NKOTB thing there is a sisterhood that we share.  In our own weird (to you) little way we are a family. We are each other's support system.  We carry each other's burdens, share each other's interests and hurt when one of us hurts.  Yesterday Andrea was taken in a horrible car accident, leaving her family, her million sisters and 5 brothers to mourn her loss.  And yes, the members of NKOTB did take notice and offer their condolences.  Anyhow, Andrea was driving to work and then she was gone...a vapor in the wind.  How precious life is. How grateful we should be for the little things in life that are precious.  Often those "things" are not really things at all.  They are people.  I'm so very thankful for my family....For my husband who loves me no matter how gnarly I look in the mornings and tolerates my NKOTB obsession. I'm thankful for my parents and brothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  I've been blessed with amazing in-laws, 10 nieces and nephews, and 7 great-nieces and nephews.  I'm thankful for my 5 brothers and million sisters, who "get it".
Too often we focus on the things we have to do versus what we get to do.  I don't HAVE to go to work.  I GET to go to a job that has great health benefits.  I don't HAVE to go to church.  I GET to worship when people in other countries can't.  I don't HAVE to spend time with my family.  I GET to.
I'm also so very grateful that I get to spend my days off with my brother's daughter.  I get baby time and she gets spoiled.  It works out well for the both of us.  I never get anything done when she's here tho.  Not that I can't handle doing things around the house with a baby here, but like Aerosmith says "I don't wanna miss a thing".  My time with her is so precious to me that I don't want to spend it cleaning the bathroom (which I should be doing now) or doing dishes. I don't HAVE to watch her.  I GET to.  I don't have to change her diapers or make her bottles.  I GET to.  I don't HAVE to rock her to sleep and hold her while she dreams peacefully (although sometimes with her eyes open which REALLY grosses me out).  I GET to hold her.  These moments are my greatest joys.


I don't HAVE to do anything....I GET to!