Thankful

I've been feeling a lot of stress about life lately. It's come to my attention that I will not be able to make ends meet just working at the Mac Shack, so the scrambling to find a second source of income has begun. The more I crunched numbers the more stressed I became. This was compounded more fully when I thought about my professional career. Things in DC didn't look like they were going to pan out, which meant I would be in SLC until grad school in a year and a half with pretty much no professional job opportunities. So I'd be in SLC for a full year and a half with no real job, working serving positions and living pay period to pay period. My personal/love life has no real vitality at this moment, and the more I see of men my age in Utah, the more frustrated I am on that front.

But then I got to thinking. It was, of course, around the Thanksgiving season, but oddly enough that didn't influence this. I was actually checking out at Whole Foods when I had my epiphany. I was buying milk and some vitamins when I saw one of the little cards at the checkout lane that allow you to donate $5, $10, or $25 dollars to the Utah Food Bank - the $5 provides breakfast for a family, the $10 provides dinner or lunch, and the $25 provides the family with food for an entire day. Even though I was stressing about my own financial situation, I realized something. Here I was at Whole Foods, buying a carton of fresh milk that is shipped in every morning from Colorado and some multi-vitamins because I was starting a new health regime. I had just gotten back from the gym where I was able to take classes and keep my body healthy. I was driving my car, which I love and don't constantly worry about breaking down.

Monthly, I end up throwing out food because it goes bad before I have a chance to eat it. I have my own room in a cute little house that has heating and air conditioning, and a bed and a couch and a lovesac, and amazing roommates that I can go to movies with and who care about my life. I have a job that will give me Christmas off so I can spend that time with my family and provide me with at least some source of income. I have a family that invites me over for Thanksgiving and dinner and would be willing to help me if things became too tight. I have The Church. Aside from providing me a social safety net and structure to my life, it helps me with perspective and provides me with peace and happiness.

And I have you guys. Three amazing friends that I know will always be there for me, no matter what happens. Three beautiful women who are strong, smart, driven, intelligent, and just plain awesome. I realized then that while things may not have been going perfectly in my life, there were definitely more things in the good category than the bad.

So I grabbed the $10 card and made my donation. After all, I have enough.

I am blessed and I am thankful.

-PM