Exactly one year ago, Chris and I moved to Kansas City MO. We packed up our life and our stuff and said goodbye to jobs that didn't really make us (me) very happy in order to start a new life and a new chance at happy. We looked at one rental house and snatched it up immediately without looking around at anything else. This worked in our favor because it eventually became the house we would buy. Our first house. So, for almost a whole year, we were really truly happy. It was a year of just the two of us discovering new things and relishing in the good. And we were stupid happy. Sometimes when I look back on 2011, I am amazed at all the stuff we did. It's like we crammed five years into one. We did all these newly wed couple type things and just enjoyed a year of us. I am thankful for that year. I mean, I am truly thankful for that year. I was miserable living with Chris's mom and I can't lie to you and say that those living arrangements didn't put a strain on our marriage. Those three years were tough and I was beginning to worry that we would never leave. I worried about how I would adapt to living someplace I just didn't want to be. And then all that changed. And we were on our own. And we were happy. Some times I wonder what it would have been like if we hadn't moved and Chris had still gotten sick. I think of being trapped there with out him. It's a thought that sends shivers down my spine and makes me break out in a cold sweat. At least here, I'm on my own turf and can make my own rules. And as much as I would love to have had more than just that one year, I am so thankful that we had this one.

It still boggles my mind the difference a year can make. Or time in general. How those years of unhappy dragged on, while this year of so much wonderful flew by. I know how lucky and blessed I am. And this is why I am so grateful.