November SFTIO Layouts - Gratitude

Layout - "Thanks Dad"

Journaling reads:

I remember the first day that I remember you asking me my opinion about something real. I was eleven or twelve years old at the time. I mean, who cares about the opinion of a twelve-year-old. You did. You asked me what I thought about the war in Iraq (the first one) which had just recently started. While I mulled my answer over, I realized I didn't really have an opinion. No one had ever asked me my opinion before then so it had never really occurred to me to form one. I think I gave you a rather simplistic answer like "it's kind of scary", but the real result of that conversation was you making me realize that maybe I should have opinions and they maybe someone should care what they were. You made me start thinking about some of the things that I learned in school or heard on the radio. You made me start thinking. And I think that's 90% why I'm the intelligent, self-assured, rather opinionated person I am now. Although I have my own opinions, the ability to think through a problem and develop my own opinions has led to the unique ability to be able to see an argument, and its merits and demerits, from both sides. Thanks Dad.
Layout - "One"

Journaling reads:

I love fall. It invigorates me. I count down to it, anticipating, every year. Unfortunately, I have lived in Southern California and Central Florida for the last six years. Places without a real fall. So, I have to appreciate what fall I get, usually one piece at a time.
Layout - "Both Worlds"

Journaling reads:

I am an engineer and an artist. I am these two seemingly disparate and opposite things. I am grateful for the diverse abilities I have been born with. How boring life would be to be limited to one or the other...
Layout - "Imagine"

Journaling reads:

"Imagine how beautiful the world would be if we saw it through grateful eyes"

Layout - "It No Longer Rains"

Journaling reads:

for more than ten years, I suffered from inexplicable depression. I tried to manage it with medication, diet, exercise, therapy, you name it, I tried it. But the depression always came back. Then, in my late 20's and early 30's I tried something different. I started eliminating food allergens from my diet. Turns out that all along, the depression was a symptom. Turns out that all along, I was allergic to wheat. Now, ...

Happy humpday!