Flutterby™! : Thankful 2005-11-24 13:43:18.229201+00

Thankful

2005-11-24 13:43:18.229201+00 by meuon 3 comments

While we all get wrapped up in what there is to eat, and how it was prepared...

Enjoy a moment of simple gratitude and be thankful.

To what? Does not matter. So often we get wrapped up in society induced materialism that taking a look around and realizing how much and who we have to be thankful for makes us realize how overflowingly wealthy we truly are. Thank You!.

Before we eat, we always go around the table and give each person a chance to express something they're particularly thankful for. I am blessed with a wonderful husband and partner, two unique and amazing sons, good health, and relative prosperity, and am thankful that, despite her severe disabilities and debilitation, my mother survived her series of strokes 16 years ago and got to silently watch her grandsons grow up. But this year, I plan to mention that I am particularly thankful that two of my dear friends are doing so well in their fights to beat cancer.

Hmmm... Yeah, cynical me sometimes gets wrapped up in the history behind the celebration...

I'm thankful that after nearly half a year of sharing our (tiny) house with others, they're standing somewhat on their own and have their own place. And that maybe our efforts in that direction have made a difference in some lives and futures, and that the whole experience has taught me a lot about human behaviors.

I'm thankful that I've got a great partner who enjoys taking on huge cooking projects as much as I do. We did a dry run on Sunday for one set of friends, and just finished putting up the kitchen from a huge (if we'd had place settings we could have easily doubled the guest list, as we so mis-estimated food quantities) dinner that came off extremely well.

I'm thankful for the circle of people I can call my friends, even if some of 'em show up on my doorstep unannounced (or, more to the point, call for rides to show up on my doorstep...) and others I only exchange email with occasionally. May they all still tolerate my quirks and revel in my strangeness.

I'm thankful that I live in a prosperous culture, where the worst of my material worries would be total luxuries to the majority of the people on this planet.

I'm thankful that I found my keys after two months of missing them, both because I now have the use of my car back, but also because I got to experience life without a car. Both have their advantages.

Many of our lists would be long and varied, but few of us would be glad to loose our car keys for two months, Although if I started now, maybe by summer I could be in shape to ride back up the hill to the house on my bike.