the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in. 

1. What does patriotism mean to you? When I think of patriotism, I think of freedom. If not for the brave men and women who fought for our freedom, we wouldn't enjoy all that we get to today. It's because of them that we live in the type of country we do; it's one that is nowhere near perfect, but even on our worst day, we are still so fortunate to have all that we do. I attribute all of this to the soldiers who risked or gave their lives so that we could have ours. I'll forever be grateful. 

We always loved to spend Veteran's day with Dad; we went downtown every year for the annual parade, and this was one such day. They all spontaneously made posters for the veterans and made the local evening news this year! 

2. September-October-November...what's your favorite fall month? Tell us why. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere use these months but sub in the word spring for fall. My favorite fall month is November, because it's finally fully fall, and the leaves are changing for us here in West Tennessee by that time. 

I cannot get enough of the beautiful leaves and colors! 

3. A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word) in the title or lyrics? Hands down, my answer to this is the song Gratitude by Brandon Lake. Here's a few of the lyrics:

all my words fall short

I've got nothing new

how could I express

all my gratitude?

4. November is National Peanut Butter month. Are you a fan? What's the last peanut butter bite you had? Fill in the blank: peanut butter and ______________. Oh, and you can't say jelly. I love peanut butter! I sometimes eat it on a spoon when I'm craving something and I don't know what. My favorite combination with peanut butter is chocolate. It's so good! 

5. This week's gratitude question: what event from this past year are you most grateful for? I'm grateful for the event that led me to today...so this sounds weird, but that would mean that I'm grateful for my divorce. I don't know how that's possible when I look back at where I started, but I've healed, and I feel like I'm in a healthy mind space. I don't give a lot of thought to the person or events that took place leading to today anymore, but when I do, I can honestly look back and be thankful for the life that we shared up to that day in June of 2024. I'm so grateful to be here today, on my own for the most part, but also getting to know someone new. I put in the work to be here today, and I feel like I've come a long way. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Guess what, friends? I'm finally to the point where I'm starting to love being at home again. After a year and a half, you have no idea how good this feels! I'm never bored anymore, and I never dread nights that I stay in. It's possible that it has to do with the time of year, or being tired after my work each day. Whatever it is, I'll take what it took to get me here. I loved both of these images I recently found on socials; they remind me of what I'm saying here. The first image above reminds me of what took place Monday night; I came home and made a pot of chicken tortilla soup. It was so much that I texted my friend Kendra and invited her over for dinner. I was thrilled that she took me up on my offer! We ate, then we talked for a couple of hours before she left to go home to grade papers. It was a nice, unexpected night! 

I can't wait to read your posts! Thanks for being here to read mine today. Love to all!

Jenn xoxo