The hectic holiday rush is about to start for ALL of us. So how about taking a few moments now to list some of the things you're thankful for this year? When things get crazy, you can look back on this and draw some much needed calmness.

Geez.. let me start off by being so so thankful that i was blessed enough to be able to go and get this wonderful tool to start a new life for myself, my husband and four rug rats! I will be spending the holidays with family and hopefully by then will be a bit lighter so that I can enjoy the trip we are taking to the mountains. My family is all meeting in Gatlinburg to stay in a cabin for the holiday and I am so thankful that we are all able to be there together.

Great thread, Marie!!!

I am thankful for...

1. my wonderful husband

2. my new band that will help me achieve good health and high energy

3. all my critters (they aint perfect, but they make me smile)

4. family (as long as they aren't driving me nuts!)

5. friends (including all of you!)

6. my 3 fun (and funny) bosses

and last, but not least...

7. I am so thankful that I found LapBandTalk.com!

Great thread Marie

I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful that I have a job as so many people right now don't.

I am thankful that I have a house over my head.

I am thankful I have food to put on the table.

I am thankful I could get my band to make my life healthy.

I am thankful for all the people on this board who have become my friends.

I am thankful I will get to meet some of these people soon.

That is off the top of my head, I am sure there are lots more.

I am thankful for:

-an everloving God

- my freedom - to do anything, go anywhere -without fear

-the ability to walk, talk, laugh, cry, hug

-my husband and two sons, and all my family

-my health

-my "four legged" creatures

-my friends, including all of you

-a comfortable home

-a dependable car

-a pantry that's never bare

-plenty of clothes and shoes

-the sunshine and the rain

-change left over after paying the bills

-my Lapband

I am thankfull for so many things, in a way I am thankfull for everything.

I'm thankful that I still take joy in blue skies, so high and so clear. And yet I'm thankful for the storm; it washes away the dust of yesterday, and gives me a small hint of what wonders abide just outside my door. And when that wind shakes the siding, and lifts the shingles playfully, I'm thankful for my home, cozy and warm, and a cup of tea to drive away the chill.

I'm thankful that I can vote my heart, and speak my mind. And still I'm grateful for the laws we all must live by, I see the results of defying them every day.

I'm thankful that, however challenged my daily life, I am loved, and I have the chance to love. I know that there is one waiting for me at the end of my journey. There'll be a smile and a kiss, and if a bad day a tear, and if a good day a smile. Both tend to break my heart, though in different ways.

I am thankful that I built this prison around me, encased my thin and healthy frame in fat. My insulation against the world. For without it I might be one of those mindless pontificators who have no true sympathy for the addicted and the sad. Who calls illness "weakness" and thinks that they are strong because their demons can be hidden and not displayed around their middles.

I am thankful for those who tormented me all my life about my fat. Had I been thinner they would have teased me about my ears, or my large feet. But they would have teased. Rather than rising above, they feel success is putting others down. Thanks to them I temper my words, withold my judgement. I know I couldn't have done it without them.

I am thankful for the starry eyed dreamers. They have enriched my life. They bring a bright light on the darkest night, they send me pictures through the air. I can hear music, like the voices of angels, coming from a box. I can make friends all over the world, feel their love, share their sorrow and their joy. All because someone dreamed of what could be, and ignored what could'nt be done.

I am thankful for this post, already too long, and those of you who read it. Thank you for holding me up when I am weary, for making me laugh when I feared I would cry. For making me cry with stark tales of truth and tribulation at the twists of life.

And, in the end, when sun is setting, and all are sleeping from too much tryptophan, and the game plays to a snoring audience, I am thankful for the opportunity to be thankful.

Life is good.

Thanks for this thread, Marie.

I am thankful for my brother and sister and friends.

I am thankful for this opportunity to restore my health.

I am thankful for my dog and cats.

I am thankful for meaningful work and a supportive work environment.

I am thankful for my volunteer work and the opportunity to make lonely seniors smile.

I am thankful for books and music.

Nancy

How does one try to follow something as deep and profound as Ryan? lol. You always say it all and then so much more, in such a beautiful way. Thank you for helping us to see with your eyes and hear with your ears that which we so often take for granted. I am thankful for your words and for all that they stand for.

I am so thankful for so many things these days.

I am thankful for so much more than I ever thought I'd be privy to.

My beautiful children, MiMi and Jeremy.

I am thankful to have loved deeply in my life and been loved in return.

The power to make my own decisions.

A job I am not educated for, but that God saw fit to bless me with.

I am thankful for my co-workers who are also my friends and who have helped me to grow from the country 'bumpkin' that I was to the slightly more worldly country 'bumpkin' that I am today.

I am thankful for the determination instilled in me to move forward even if it is with the smallest of baby steps.

I am thankful for the occasional setbacks that I have encountered that serve to remind me of my mortality and of how very important it is to make things count because you don't always get a second chance.

I am thankful for the honesty and responsibility instilled in me by my poor hard-working mother despite all that life dealt her. I am thankful for her life and her health and I'm very thankful that God has seen fit to allow me the luxury to have her this long.

I am thankful for the two fathers I had who taught me totally separate but meaningful lessons about who I might want to become (or not).

I am so very thankful for the love of my brothers and sisters and for their sustained health and well being and that of their children.

I am thankful to have been born in America and for all the freedoms that I am guilty of taking for granted.

I am thankful for the two legs I have today, due to modern medicine.

I am also thankful for my insurance for without it, I may not receive the care I have needed or the medications that I now require. So many do not have this privilege and for this, I am saddened.

I am definitely thankful for this great opportunity for weight loss. Again, there are so many who are not as fortunate.

I could go on and on all night, but I won't.

I have so little compared to some and even still, I have so much from whence I came.

I truly thank my God for all that I have, body, mind and soul. For all the lessons He has allowed me to learn and for all the times He has been there to pick me up and dust me off and mostly, for giving me the heart to appreciate it, however inadequately I may show it.

And yes, I am thankful for all of the LBT Angels who I've grown to love and lean upon.

Thank you for allowing me to stop long enough to think of these things.

There has to be a few more out there....

I am thankful for some much....

~that God was there to bless me and help me change my life with my surgery!!

~That I have a fantastic family and boyfriend of 5 years to support me throughout whatever I choose to do in life!

~That I am going to graduate from college in December!!!!!

~That I have found you guys to be there for the support and questions I so desperatly need!

~I have the best friends a girl could ask for....I love you guys!

I am THANKFUL that so far for 54 + yrs God has allowed me to walk above the grass.

I am THANKFUL for the knowledge that on the Day God choses I shall repose under the same grass I walk, I will be reunited with all my family and friends that I have missed over the years.

I am THANKFUL for my family and friends that I still see walking this great creation.

I am THANKFUL for the chance to live is such a gorgious and beautiful country that allows us to have the choises we do have.

I am THANKFUL for the men and women who have in the past, present and future times have and will go off and fight the battles that become necessary for us to remain the free people we are.

I am eternally THANKFUL for those, both personal friends and strangers, who have sacrificed their lives for us both in the military and in law enforcement and firefighting careers.

I am THANKFUL for a 26 year career that allowed me to see more good then I saw evil. And to do good for others

I am THANKFUL God waited till I was 53 before I ever had to face the surgeons knife and that the two carpol tunnel and this current lapband surgeries were hugh successes for me. And that the two knee surgiers that I was faing no longer are necessary.

I am THANKFUL that God has anwsered my pray that I be allowed to live long enough to see my children grown and being able to make it on thier own. Now that they are I am also THANKFUL God allows us to modify our prayers and I hope he answers my new one that I live long enough to see all my grandchildren on their own and doing well. (At that time I move on to greatgrandkids)

I am THANKFUL for the ability to show my emotions and not have to put on a false face all the time. But I am also THANKFUL they stopped showing the Wizzad of Oz as often as they used to)

I am THANKFUL for all of you here and that I was able to find you and be able to call you friends.

And last I am THANKFUL for Viagra and the fact that I never had that "4 hour problem" they say requires medical treatment. Cause I am of a firm (no pun intended) belief I would not have seeked that medical help.

thank you for sharing, Greg. (LOL) by the way, I have cried EVERY single time I've watched The Wizard of Oz too and I remember vividly 1964 the very first time I ever saw it. I cried my little heart out. I was only 4 then, but I'll never forget that balloon going up and leaving that poor girl behind. Geez, it brings tears to my eyes now. lol. Call me a sap...

Your a sap LOL

PS so am I

And don't forget Toto!!

And don't forget Toto!!

lol, yea, exactly, that's why she missed the balloon.i'll never forget my mama having to comfort me because my little heart was broken. i've been crying at movies ever since.

I'm the type who always worries what happened to the animal. If the cowboy got shot, what happened to the horse.

I think we should all rent the Wizard of Oz and watch it Thanksgiving Day after we eat our dinner! Then we can go to the Chat Room and compare notes.