grad school

There are so many things about this season of life that are hard and so many that are so wonderful.  Although I, myself am not in grad school I feel the weight of it in many ways.

I would say that the hardness of this time, for me, mostly comes in the scheduling issues and general feelings of chaos that come now and again.

But, truly this season is full of such beauty and joy as well.  In the discipline of gratitude, I thought I'd list some of what I'm so thankful for within it all.

• We see each other (as a family) randomly throughout the day.  There are times when Clint is home for lunch or when we might meet him at school.
• We have subsidized housing.
• We get to live on the east coast for a bit.  The east coast has a feel all its own and has great places all around.
• We are in a wonderful community of people...all going to grad school, all trying to figure out scheduling issues, all having ups and downs.  Truly we live life together.
• Within that, we can see people all the time, help each other out, walk across the playground or the street and find friends.  Meals together, evening chats, and random morning coffee dates are frequent.
• There is a great playground.
• The financial aid here is generous.  Very thankful for that.
• We have jobs that we enjoy.
• There are little random things that we get to do, like ride the university shuttle from our apartments to downtown Princeton.  It's extremely enjoyable, especially for a 3 year old.  And we don't have to pay for parking downtown.
• There are lots of books all around.
• We are a part of a community garden.  This could be utilized by us more often, but that's another story.

I'm sure I will think of many more, but that's my start at least.