I am thankful for....

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Thanksgiving Day tradition in my family includes a lot of food…and some contemplative time to articulate – maybe only to ourselves – the elements of our lives that we are thankful for.

Almost every year – the first things I think about are:

  • Family far and near
  • Meaningful activity/work
  • Personal health
  • Comfortable home
  • Country/community

Is there anything unique about 2011? Of course. Nothing on the list is truly static.

Family Far and Near

  • In 2011 my daughter moved to the other side of the country. It is a multi-hop plane trip or a 4 day road trip to see her now. I am more thankful for modern communication than ever before but the anticipation of seeing her in person over the winter break is so sweet.
  • This is the first Thanksgiving without my grandmother. She died in late 2010 at 98 years old. While she had not cooked Thanksgiving in recent years – I am thankful that she did for so many years and the memories of the food (highlights were apricot kolaches and dinner rolls with gooey raisin centers) are so vivid still.
  • The majority of years I have been cooking Thanksgiving dinner at the time my husband and daughter made the short trip to put silk flowers on my mother-in-laws grave but this year I arranged the morning such that I could go with my husband. I am thankful to her every time I notice something in our home that was hers – some wind chimes, a scarf, some kitchen knives. Although she died over 20 years ago, she still has a positive and frequent impact on my life.

Meaningful activity/work

  • In previous years, I would have called this element ‘meaningful work’ – the change reflects what is happening in my life. I am in transition from someone that works for a big corporation to something quite different/not fully defined yet. I am thankful to have so many options as I step into the next phase of my life. Right now life is so wonderfully full and the choices I have in front of me are equivalent – or maybe greater – than when I was in my 20s.

Personal Health

  • I am thankful that I have been able to take off about 25 pounds in the past 2 years and am getting very close to being the ‘normal’ weight for my height. While I was pretty healthy before, the exercise and healthy eating to achieve the weight loss has indeed made me feel even better….no more aching knees going up and down stairs!

Comfortable Home

  • The prospect of spending more time at home – not having to go into an office every weekday – is something I am looking forward to. I am thankful the house is one I’ve truly turned into a home over 15 years I’ve lived here and that the view from my office is the best in the house (looking out onto a forest).

Country/community

 

  • While I can’t bring myself to be thankful for the elected government in the US (the elected officials seem all have something other than ‘the good of the country’ as their primary interest!), I am thankful for the American people. They have moments of brilliance when their diversity drives renewal of the spirit that founded the country….may that aspect of the American psyche happen with increased frequency in 2012.
  • I am also thankful to the community in which I live in Maryland. Last weekend the neighborhood was full of leaves on the ground – thick and wet. Today, everything is tidy; the lawn mowers and leaf blowers are silent so we all enjoy the sunny day we have for the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all…..enjoy!