Gratitude: The Good, the Hilarious, and the Coffee That Saves Lives ☕😂❤️

Gratitude is one of those things that sneaks up on you. It’s easy to be thankful for the big, beautiful, Instagram-worthy moments—vacations 🏖️, holidays 🎄, the time your child miraculously ate a vegetable 🥦 without a hostage negotiation. But real gratitude? The deep, heartwarming, laugh-till-you-cry kind? That’s found in the tiny, often absurd, everyday moments that make life what it is.

Like when my kids actually laugh at a movie during movie night 🎥🍿 instead of asking me 47,000 questions about the plot. Or when I finally get to sit down with a hot cup of coffee ☕, unmicrowaved and untouched by the cruel fate of distraction.

Let’s talk about coffee gratitude for a moment. There is no joy quite like the first sip of coffee that hasn’t gone cold 🥶 due to a sudden emergency involving a lost shoe 👟, an urgent need for snacks 🍪, or a sibling war breaking out over something as critical as who gets the last Cheez-It 🧀. That first sip? It’s life. It’s love. It’s the reason I’m still a functioning adult.

Then there are those moments when your kids say something so unexpectedly sweet that your heart melts faster than ice cream 🍦 on a Georgia sidewalk in July. Like when Brittany looked at me the other day and said, "Mom, you’re my best friend." ❤️ My heart soared. Of course, five minutes later, she was mad at me for enforcing bedtime ⏳, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Or when Blake, in his infinite seven-year-old wisdom, tells me I’m the best chef ever 👩‍🍳—while eating a peanut butter sandwich 🥪 I literally threw together in 10 seconds. It’s these little victories that keep me going.

And let’s not forget the gratitude that comes from unexpected acts of kindness. A friend who calls just to check in 📞. A stranger who holds the door open 🚪 when my hands are full of groceries 🛍️ and regret. The sheer miracle of finding matching socks 🧦 in the laundry.

I am so grateful for all of it—the big, the small, and the absurd. Because life isn’t just about the highlight reel 🎞️; it’s about the bloopers, the behind-the-scenes chaos 🎭, and the outtakes that make us laugh until our stomachs hurt. 🤣

So here’s to gratitude. To hot coffee ☕, belly laughs 😂, kids who (sometimes) listen 🙉, and friends who remind us that we’re not in this alone. Life is messy, but it’s so, so good. ❤️🙏

~ Mary

#MomLifeWithMary