i'm very pleased and scared to be here

1. I am grateful for people who are willing to help. I was racing to finish a project at work and three of my coworkers happily joined in so that I could finish in time. I know they were busy and could have filled the time with their own responsibilities, but I could never have finished on my own and so am grateful that they noticed and helped.

2. I am grateful people in the church who magnify their callings. I'm on a quest to find a job that makes me happy and I met with the ward employment specialist this week to get ideas on what I can be doing differently. He, with only one day's notice, came with multiple print-outs of resume samples, websites of local companies, interviewing ideas, and networking tips. He also spent an hour with me going over what exactly I was looking for and talking through places and people I can contact. And not once did he say, "You know, it might help if you stopped wearing a ponytail, because you certainly don't look professional."

3. I am grateful that my mom is also my friend. I am staying downtown in a hotel during work meetings and she was able to come and meet me for dinner tonight. Not that we don't have dinner together almost every night, but we are not usually alone and it was nice to be out together. I am so glad that we enjoy each other's company and that we are similar in so many ways.

"Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality."-Alfred Painter