Wife and kids are at Mass. I just finished assembling a cabinet to go by the front door. Note to self: stop buying furniture that requires assembly… yeah it’s not hard (I’m reasonably mechanically inclined), but I’m just tired of “some assembly required”. So since I’ve been doing a lot of work all day, I figured it was time to have a beer (Dogfish Head India Brown Ale) and reflect a bit. I’m going to reflect aloud because well… I’ve got a blog and this is part of why I have it: testimony, recording of life, and so on.

This whole house renovation experience has given me much to think about, and I’m not just talking about the obvious stuff with the house itself. It’s made me revisit and rethink a lot of things.

I’m thankful for my job. I’m compensated fairly, and I work hard to earn that money. I am not earning as much as I could for my skill set and experience, but the trade-off is I get to work from home and be involved with my wife and children. Being so close to my children and having such a good relationship with them? That’s the best compensation in the world.

I’m thankful for Wife. Her good taste guided this renovation, and folks… the house is gorgeous… tho not as gorgeous as she is.

I’m thankful for the generosity of others. In-laws that helped to make this happen. Neighbors that offered up boxes for storage, their kitchens so we could have home-cooked meals instead of eating out constantly. The guys doing the work, and the extra things they’d do to help out that were beyond the scope of their employ. Employers (be it KRT or my day job or whomever) for understanding what I’m going through and working with me on this endeavor.

I’m thankful for having patient children. It’s been massive upheaval the past some weeks, and while it’s worn on all of us, the kids have been real troopers throughout.

I’m thankful for beer. ’nuff said. 😉

I’m thankful to have been graced with what I have in life. I’ve got a good house; I’ve the ability to renovate it. I can keep my family reasonably comfortable throughout all this upheaval. I can only hope that I’m living up to what my parents wanted me to do, which is to be the best I can and provide for my family better than they provided for me.

I realized that going without TV all this time… well sure, I feel a bit out of the loop (I’ve missed those new Futurama episodes), but life goes on just fine and I really haven’t missed it all that much. I tossed around the idea of getting rid of the TV, but upon expressing that to my children well… you should have seen the look of horror on their faces. 😉  TV won’t be going away for the household, but certainly it’s less and less an issue for me (tho I still love me some Invader Zim and the occasional Outdoor Channel show).

I’m thankful that I’m soon to return to my normal routine. Getting up in the morning, reloading 200 rounds of 9mm (haven’t done that in a few weeks while all this chaos has been going on), dry fire practice, some sort of physical exercise, then getting to work.

I’m sure there are other things that I’m forgetting right now.

The bottom line? I feel humbled by the house renovations. I’m very blessed and I do NOT want to take it for granted. I see much that’s around me and I realize that I’ve got a good thing and I have NO place to complain about anything (except the way our Federal government is behaving… that’s a duty).  Life is good, and I’m so fortunate to have Wife to experience it all with.