Finding the 'Thankful' in Every Day by JOSHUA HUNDT

I was sitting home relaxing for about four minutes one Saturday after a long day with the boys. It was a rare night when Kristin was out of town, and I randomly thought back to a cold, dark December 25th evening when I was a child. I can remember myself reviewing all the gifts I received, lining them up neatly (some things don’t change), and maybe playing with them for a bit. It was a day full of gifts from Santa, a huge breakfast at my house, two donuts after breakfast, time with my cousins and siblings at my grandma’s house, and my parents letting me have a can of coke with my dinner because it’s very hard to say no to a kid on Christmas. Basically, it was me just thinking about how Christmas day was (still is) always just the most perfect day in the world.

Then my thinking fast forwarded  many years to reminisce about a recent day in our life filled with dirty diapers, a trip to the garbage dump to drop off leaves with the men (one of our favorite fall activities), reading books for naps, debating with the boys about how many of their gluten free fish sticks to eat, walking outside to see the moon, playing a game of PIG in the fireplace room (against Kristin while the boys cheer us on), the bathroom getting flooded because the boys haven’t learned the meaning of the phrase keep the water in the bathtub, reading more books and saying prayers for bedtime rituals, and ending with Kristin and I having our favorite “date” of watching a TV show recorded days earlier, and eating Dusty’s takeout. Basically, it was me just thinking about how that day was the most perfect day in the world.

The realization that a day like the one mentioned above is the most perfect day in the world, is the most incredible feeling in the world.  In our time together we have been through many challenges of sickness in the family, death of family members, fertility struggles, and days, weeks and years so difficult that all we wanted was for them to end. I also realize we will have all these same types of challenges, and more, as we and our children journey through this difficult world. These challenges make me even more grateful for what we have. So It wasn’t a perfect day because every event that happened was perfect- far from it. It was a perfect day because I realized through that day I have every major thing dreamed for in life, and that despite the fact that none of us are perfect on our own- our little family is perfect for each other..

Unlike most ten year olds that played sports all the time, I never thought I was going to be a professional athlete. That simply was never how I viewed a successful adult future for me. When it really got down to what I dreamed for myself as an adult, it was a wife to love, kids to play with (specifically twins, as long as they were different sizes so I didn’t get them mixed up), and a job where I could wear a tie. Somehow, I have been blessed with all of these things and more. 

I have an amazing wife that will always try to put my needs before her own, a wife I genuinely love spending time with, a wife that makes me smile and laugh, and who even occasionally still laughs at my jokes.

I also am blessed to be watching my sons grow up before my eyes, realizing it is about so much more than just playing with them like the ten year old version of me dreamed of. It is about the amazement of things like hearing them learn a new word, find a new country on a map, show compassion for the people of Haiti (taught by Kristin), and them dancing in a circle together singing ring around the rosey. It is about about the grind of teaching them to always listen, to always be kind, to always help their brothers, and to always stay curious.

On this thanksgiving, I am writing this to remind myself not only to be thankful today and every day, but to always remember that at the end of each evening I don’t have to wait 365 more days for another day like a childhood Christmas day, because odds are tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day will all be incredible days on this journey of our life.


Happy Thanksgiving (and Merry Christmas) to all of you! 

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