Thankful Thursday

Happy middle-ish of October! Looks like it's been a bit since a true Thankful Thursday list. Let's fix that. :) Here are things I'm thankful for lately...

1. Fall photos. It's definitely getting more difficult to get my annual fall photos. But. I'm very grateful that I have all of my boys together at least somewhat regularly thanks to Micah's infusion schedule. Taking advantage of that, last Saturday, after Micah's infusion at the hospital here, we all drove up to Estes Park in search of some trees with more fall color than we had locally. 

We didn't manage any of the great shots we've had in past years but did get some. Here's my favorite: 

And here were others...

But for every decent photo we managed, I also have some like these...

And while we were in Estes, we also played with the music installments, did some shopping, had our traditional dinner at Ed's Cantina and ice cream at Hayley's, and watched Micah climb rocks in the dark. 

So. Not the best fall photos ever but a day well spent with my guys. :) And, Nathan and I thoroughly enjoyed the fall colors in Montrose and at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, so there's that. 

2. Ropes course. Earlier last week, Asher sent me these after his outdoor adventures class...

Thankful he's enjoying his classes and gets to do things like this.

3. Past friends. I was climbing on my own a week or so ago and ran into one of Micah's old teammates from when he was on Team Ascent. Thanks to the pandemic and such, I hadn't seen him in at least a couple years but he hugged me and asked about Micah and it made my day. I've enjoyed getting to know so many fabulous young people as my boys grew up and am thankful whenever I get a glimpse into how they're doing now. 

4. Climbing experience. I'm also thankful that I've spent enough time around climbing and climbers that Micah's stories of climbing in college don't scare me, lol. If I didn't have that background, photos like those he sent me from one of his Alpine Club outings might worry me. 

5. Playlist sharing. We have a family Spotify account. I don't actually use it much since I rarely listen to music. But. When I workout, it's sometimes nice to have music playing. A bit ago I had a great idea and asked Micah to share one of his playlists with me. He has eclectic taste and the collection entertains me; it's so "Micah." Thankful to listen to it and enjoy my boy even when he's away. 

6. Not coughing. Almost a month ago, when we all went to the Korean Festival together, Asher and Micah were both getting over colds...not surprising given that they both live in dorms and eat in dining halls, lol. The following week, I thought I may have caught a bit of it (had a small cough but nothing else) but then felt fine. I woke in the night coughing but was fine during the days. On our way to Montrose, I coughed and coughed. It seemed to be thanks to the dry air from the AC and such, and I still had no other symptoms. I'd climbed the day before and had no issues, and we hiked the next day and I was fine. But. I continued to wake every night coughing and coughing. By the time we got back from Montrose, the coughing attacks were during the day also, and I agreed to go see a doctor...who agreed with me that I wasn't actually sick. My lungs and chest were completely clear, I had no other symptoms, I'm in good health. I just couldn't stop coughing if I got started and desperately wanted to sleep through the night.

So. Three different prescriptions were filled to try to get some relief. I'm pretty sure two of them actually made things worse (like Asher in the past, I seem to not respond to opiates for whatever reason) but one did seem to help a little. Mostly, it felt like the recognition/confirmation that I wasn't sick was what helped me finally. Before the doctor, when I was coughing it felt like I should try to get whatever was in there out, right? The doctor's best guess, though, was that I had a bronchial irritation (perhaps caused by the day or so I actually may have had a cold) that just needed to heal. So. I just needed to stop coughing long enough for that. Knowing that helped. 

And, eventually, this past weekend, I managed to sleep all the way through the night...after a couple of weeks of not. So. I'm incredibly thankful to no longer be coughing. Yay!!

7. Small projects. One of the things on my 50 before 50 list, randomly, was to try crocheting again. My gram taught me ages ago but it never really stuck. So. I ordered myself this beginner kit this summer and finally got around to doing it last week. I present to you Fred the Dino!

Isn't he cute? :) The kit was well done and the instructional videos were great. It's lovely making things. But. Please don't get any ideas. I don't think I'll be taking up crochet as a hobby any time soon, lol. I'm just thankful to have checked this off my list. :)

8. Throwback Thursday. My mom recently sent me a box of miscellaneous stuff as she's been clearing out things at her place. One of the things was my baby book. :) So thankful to have all those memories and stories and photos like this one...

This is me and a bunch of cousins (from both sides of my family) on my second birthday. 

Okay, that's a pretty good list for now. :) How's your Thursday going?