"They spent two months at sea to reach a strange new world, and barely survived once they got there"

Some years we really do feel like we've barely survived, don't they?  As I sit back and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee while my girls watch tv in another room, and my husband sleeps quietly, I know that this year is not one of those years.  This is a year like the first Thanksgiving.  A year when after struggle and strife everything just comes together and life is as good as it can get.

I have so much to be thankful for this year (I shared some of my many blessings here).  I honestly don't even feel like I know the person I used to be before the Agius crew came into my life.  As I struggled to explain it all to a friend last night I faltered, and couldn't come up with the words that encompassed the change.  I then realized it could all be summed up to a single sentence: I'm a Mom now.  That simple fact is the greatest gift I have ever been given.  Not just because of the joy that my girls bring to my life but also because of the many lessons that they (and my lovely husband) have taught me.  It's not all about me anymore, and it never will be again.  It's about my family.  How things impact them, what choices will be best for them, how do I explain the hard stuff to them, are they learning the right lessons to become good, strong people.

It's a lot to simply walk into at 26 but I would not change a thing. In working to teach them the important things in life, I have remembered what those things are.  I heard in a song once that a woman should live the life she would want for her daughter, and be the kind of person she would want her daughter to be.  I'm not there yet but the journey so far has been spectacular in and of it's self.

I am also so very lucky to have an amazing partner to go the journey along with me.  I know I gush about Tony a lot on here but I can't help myself.  I always thought that I knew what I wanted from a man and Tony really is all of those things, but he is so much more than those things too.  He is everything I wanted and all of the things I didn't know I needed

So when I look back over the year today and try to sum up what I am most thankful for I stumble and struggle to put it in to words but again I find it boils down to one sentence: I am most thankful for the simple fact that I'm an Agius!