(Originally Posted November 27, 2008)
Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to answer the big questions in life that I am always confronted with on Thanksgiving Day. What is it that I am thankful for, that wouldn’t sound to obvious or trite? The thing is, my list is long! Of course there’s the usual. I’m thankful for my family, and our relative good health this year. But really, there’s so much more:
I’m thankful that even though so many in my country are facing hard times, we’ve still got our heads at least a bit above water.
I’m thankful for our incoming president, and pray that his hopes for our Nation come true.
I’m thankful that my husband’s family will all be together this year for dinner, and wish we could do it more often. I find it sad that one sibling had not yet met the other sibling’s two-and-a-half-year-old son until this week, and hope we never allow so much time to pass among us again.
I’m thankful that I have a job, even though I hate it sometimes, because I know so many people who don’t have a job that they’re lucky enough to hate.
I’m grateful for discovering my son’s ADHD now, so early, so I still have plenty of time to learn to be a better parent to him.
I’m also thankful for my daughter, whose generally patient, cool-headed nature coupled with scary-smartness just might make her a true leader someday.
I’m thankful for my husband, who can always find something to laugh about.
I’m thankful for our kids’ grandparents, who are all healthy now and such an integral part of our lives.
I’m thankful that I have a small circle of true friends. That there are enough of them to actually form a circle around me means that much more.
I’m thankful for my knitting, which brings me peace on a daily basis.
I’m thankful for the friends I’ve met through knitting, so that I can spread and share the peace. I wonder at times what would happen in the world if everyone could knit, instead of fight. Somehow, knitting makes my head calmer and my thoughts more clear. If I could spread the knitting throughout the world, would there ever be a reason for fighting? There must be a knitters for peace movement out there. I will find it. And when I do, for that I shall be thankful also.
I’m thankful for the daily din of giggles and squeals I hear throughout my house each day, which is the music of my children.
I shall be thankful for a snowstorm, if we have one. It’s been a while, and I have a secret fear that I may never see a big one ever again.
I’m thankful for hot chocolate on a cold day, and fudgecicles on a hot one. Chocolate is good in any weather.
I’m thankful for another Thanksgiving, a day that I can pause to remember what I am thankful for. Sometimes I need that reminder.
What about you? What are you thankful for? I’d love to hear your answers, and I wish you a great day.
