Gratitude Journal #44
Last day of the year and Gratitude Entry #100. I have tried over the year to remember to be grateful for the little things, like the Starbucks employees who start work at 4a, so that when I pull into the drive-thru at 6a, someone is there to make me my Chai tea latte. But the truth is, what I am most grateful for in my life are the people. And so, this last week’s worth of gratitude entries are going to be about the people I am grateful for.
Gratitude Entry #100 – C
C and I started dating in January 2000. This means we have been together for 20 years now. It has been a journey I do not regret. Our lives have taken a path no one could have predicted at the start and that few ever go on. Not all “paths less traveled” are necessarily for the best, but it has made all the difference.
There are things I would change. Of course there are. We both have made plenty of mistakes in 20 years. We have hurt each other, unknowingly and knowingly at times. But we have made it this far together.
I have had difficult decisions to make over the years. And he has always supported me. There have been times when he has made it known what he would prefer my decision to be but also that he would support my decision, no matter what it was. I would not be where I am or who I am today without him. And I would not want to be here without him, either.
There are plenty of people who would not have taken the journey we have. And I cannot blame them. Plenty of people who would have made very different choices. Some of them may have even turned out “better”. I do not know. But we are where we are because we have traveled together. And no matter how difficult it has been, having the right traveling companion has made all the difference.
I joked not too long ago that the Muppets song “Moving Right Along” was perhaps the best marriage song I knew, especially the lines “Your way is my way, so trust my navigation”. I am so grateful that C has been my traveling companion for the last 20 years, and I look forward to the next 20.
