Thanksgiving Weekend 2007
It took me a few days to come down from the whole Thanksgiving thing this year for me to write about how our holiday went. I am not sure if it was all the starch I ate over that day (which was a lot), or if I just needed to sort out all of my thoughts in my head. I have been bombarded over the last few days of so many different feelings and thoughts. Catching up with cousins, sisters, brothers, aunts, and uncles - I am overwhelmed at the things my family is dealing with. Health issues, divorce issues, child issues......I have been thinking about these for the last 2 days and trying to remember why I have been stressed out about anything lately.
First, how thankful I am for my family. Any person my age with kids, a mortgage, car payments, cell phones, groceries, school fees, and bills knows what I am talking about. Tim and I stress each month over new things that have come up in the budget. We both work hard to give our children a good life with a nice home, cars that run every morning, and toys to play with at home. Yet, it strikes me that they are the happiest when we are cleaning out the garage and playing with the old mattresses that we are getting rid of and the empty cardboard boxes. They could care less if they need new shoes, or if the cable bill is getting too high and needs to be paid on time. They don't have to worry whose house they are staying at this weekend - moms' or dads'. Tim and I both could have ended up with the wrong partner in life to tackle these daily chores............Tim and I are so lucky to have our life with each other - there were some years that we were apart, and I really didn't think I would ever talk to him again. Then, by some stroke of luck, or whatever you would like to call divine intervention, he found my old cell phone number on a piece of paper from an old Sunday school class. The rest is history - we found each other again, and he has given me a beautiful family and a beautiful life. I need to remind him of that more often.
Being a grown-up is hard. Life deals out things to people who don't deserve them - Yet I know some remarkable people who handle the toughest things with the most grace. I just found out Tuesday before I left school of a former teacher at my school who had died that morning of cancer that he had just been diagnosed with a month earlier. He had a wife and 2 young girls. Things in my own life that stress me and make me yell at my husband all come into perspective when you hear a story that comes so close to your own life. Bills get paid late sometimes, the laundry isn't folded and put neatly away every weekend, the kitchen floor needs mopping, and the kids are yelling at each other again. Being a grown-up is hard.
But I am so thankful for my life and for the life that is to come with my family, extended family, and friends.
Happy Thanksgiving
