Author’s Note: I found a gratitude journal prompt list online and decided to dedicate some time every Monday for the next year to exploring the topics and how gratitude for them has shaped my life. Last week’s topic was about why I am starting the challenge, and it’s to keep from taking my family, friends and circumstances for granted. In this day and age, I think we need to focus on the positive. Hopefully, these posts will help me maintain my optimism in a pessimistic world.

One of the people I’m most thankful for in my life is my sweet husband of nearly 20 years. Bill is an old-school gentleman who takes care of me and always looks out for my best interests. He is compassionate, affectionate, humble, smart, loyal, passionate, humorous, talented, creative — everything I could have ever hoped to have found in a man. Every day is an adventure and through his love and support, I’ve become stronger and more independent than I ever thought possible. My very first legal job was in family law, and it was that work that showed me just how bad things can get when love goes wrong. Not that I needed it, but the things I saw made me even more thankful for what Bill and I have. I vowed then to try and never take my marriage for granted, and when I find myself slipping, I think of the crap I witnessed back then and how ridiculous some of the situations my clients were in truly were. That gives me an attitude adjustment right away and reminds me of how truly special my husband is.