Thanks to Love! Thankfulness blog, day 1.

Hello everyone!

It's been like 4 months since I last posted but life got busy... blah, blah, blah. It's now November, which I've recently decided is one of my favorite months. The weather, generally, is still pleasant and we're not thrown into the craziness of the holidays just yet. I think it may also be one of my favorite months because of Thanksgiving. When else can you pig out on a TON of food for no other reason than some pilgrims decided to invite their Indian neighbors to dinner?

As I've noticed a lot on Facebook, many people are doing a month of thankful statuses. I respect the effort of my fellow Facebookians but to be honest, I'm the most forgetful person on the planet. My boyfriend recently downgraded my memory span from a guppy to a category all by myself. There's NO way I could remember to post a thankful status everyday of November and then I'd just feel guilty the rest of the month for not feeling thankful enough.

Now I know to many of you, this seems like a no-brainer but shouldn't we be thankful every month of the year? You were given a gift of life, you have clothes on your back, a roof over your head and as many non profit organizations will remind in the next month, you make more than like 80% of the world. So why are we just now getting around to telling everyone what we're thankful for?

But I digress, the real point of this blog (or this week of blogs.. since I'm on vacation!) is to tell you all what I'm truly thankful for and to join the bandwagon.

Let's see. I'm thankful for Cookie Monster, chocolate, the color green, blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into spring... oh wait... sorry.

But today, what I'm truly thankful for is my ability to love. It sounds incredibly boastful but hopefully my explanation won't be so prideful.

For some unknown reason, God blessed me with the ability to love people. It doesn't matter what you do to me or how you treat me, I will still love you at the end of the day. I don't understand the capacity to hate each other. We're all human beings and our blood is all the same color. I don't care your skin color, religious affiliation, disability or  even your sexual orientation (yes, I said it.. get over it). If you're human, I love you.

I can honestly say that I've never truly hated anyone (this includes my ex-boss from the bank who was awful to everyone). I'm so thankful to have this God-given ability to love people and to just love on others. I'm frequently told I'm too nice or too generous... but for me, that's what love really means. It's how I express my love to other people. Yea, I might not complain when people cut me in line or I may have just donated a rather large portion of my paycheck to missions but love compels me to do it. And I'm happier for it.

Now understand that I still get angry (I've got an awful case of road rage) and I still get hurt. I also let a lot of stuff annoy me but I don't know if I just made a choice not to let this stuff bug me long term or if I'm somehow wired that it just can't. Zack will vouch for this but I really don't think I can stay mad for longer than 10 minutes. Is it possible that loving people opens me up to being used? Yes, but I don't really care.

People always told me to be careful how I say I love you because love is a powerful thing. And I truly believe it is but it's raw honesty when I tell you all that I love you. I can't begin to tell you each what you mean to me, how much being around you all has blessed my life immensely. So really I'm thankful for all of you guys and for allowing me to love you. For giving me the chance to learn from you, to speak with you, to laugh with you, or even to cry with you. And if nothing else, if everything else in your world is falling apart and you don't know what the heck you're supposed to do, just remember that somewhere in Illinois there is a girl named Alison Burge, who truly cares for you. When something makes you happy, I'm happy... when you suffer a tragedy in your life, I will probably be sitting there at my computer crying with you. I'm an emotional softie and if you hurt, I hurt too.

And I know I don't talk to many of you on a regular basis, if there is anything I can ever do to help... just let me know. Good heavens, even if I haven't talked to you in like 5 years, I'll do what I can simply because you are in my life (yes, if we are friends on Facebook, you are apart of my life) and I care for you.

So thank you for blessing me and letting me be apart of your lives. I'm sending you all HUGE hugs from Edwardsville! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! (And I mean every word of it...).

P.S. I hope it wasn't too boastful, I just wanted you to know that I love you and why.