Thanksgiving Reflections

So this year was the first in 3 years that I got to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Brief recap: 2009 was my first holiday away ever, and I ordered Thanksgiving dinner through the school and it was possibly the saddest event ever. Seriously, I went to bed hungry and lonely. In 2010, I had planned on boycotting Thanksgiving due to the happenings of the previous year. I had every intention of getting Chinese food & pretending the holiday didn't exist. But something sort of awesome happened. A large group of students & families planned a feast, and it ended up being a great time & a true expression of the day. You can see here for more about that.

So anyway, now it's 2011 (newsflash, I know), and I found out in October that I was being gifted the return of a family Thanksgiving since we would have our exams on the day before. Now don't get me wrong, it was nice to be with everyone, but I feel like it wasn't a real Thanksgiving. Throughout the whole day there was no acknowledgement of what we were thankful for. It was actually sort of stressful because, well, you know, you've gotta plan who's going where & what time, and you don't want to exclude anybody, but then you just can't be in 2 places at once. So my parents & I had a dinner at 1pm with my mom's side of the family and another at 3pm with my dad's side, and it felt like more of just going through the motions than really taking the time that the day was meant for. And now I'm going to take a few moments to actually think about the things in my life that I am thankful for, because God is pretty awesome, and crap can happen sometimes, but there's always something good.

I am thankful for:
1. my loving & supportive parents (even though they drive me crazy sometimes)
2. my awesome little furball, Storm, that brings me a smile at least once a day (even though he drives me crazy a lot of times*)
3. the opportunity to learn new things
4. the comforts of home, ie my pillow
5. clean water and the fact that I have never had to go hungry
6. good friends
7. good music
8. my lack of any serious ailments (when you're healthy you don't really give it much thought, but being able to walk & breathe & all that basic stuff is pretty awesome)
9. adventures (see previous posts & read my mind about some of the incredible opportunities I've had**)
10. books & games
11. my contacts, without which the world would be a much more terrifying place where people have no faces
12. hugs & smiles

*for example, I have had to take away my razor from the tiny monster 3 times tonight, in addition to stopping him from drinking my water & apple juice, chewing on the Christmas tree skirt, and falling into the toilet when running & jumping at full speed
**okay, since you may have difficulty breaking into my mind this evening a few of the things I've loved are: a Caribbean cruise, canyoning, frequent snorkeling trips, vacations to Niagara Falls, Las Vegas, Disney World, and repeat rounds of CMA Music Fest... yes, this is a very truncated list

Ok, I'm satisfied with that list. Time to hit the hay. Good night.