Beyond grateful.

Four short months ago, I was in the hospital and suffering from acute pancreatitis. The pain was beyond belief and between the pain killers and searing pain in my abdomen, I could barely speak.

I lived that way for six weeks. Stuck in bed, tethered to an IV and feeding tube and missing my kids so much it hurt.

I remember wishing for my boring life back. As I lay in the hospital bed, I ached to make my kids breakfast. To wash their clothes. To tuck them into bed. I hated not being able to do my most important, most rewarding job in life - Being a Mom.

I slowly recovered and today have a clean bill of health. But it struck me the other day, just were I was four months ago. How low I felt. How depressed I became. And how much I missed my life. This mundane life.

So as I get up at 4:30 a.m. to run a load of laundry so the kids have clean blue jeans to wear to school, I think back and remember how it felt to not be able to care for them. How much it hurt not being the one to pick out their clothes for the day.

And so today I'm thankful for the little things. I bless every laundry basket, every pile of dirty dishes, every dust bunny under the bed.

I have my life back and for that I'm so very grateful.