Tag Archives: #thanksgiving

21Nov/18
Clouds

Thankfully…

Aging, Life, ,

and today I am so very thankful…

Clouds

I’m thankful for seeing the beauty in nature..

I haven’t been writing very often, maybe once or twice a month. I just can’t come up with anything worth writing. I have things in my head and then I think, no…no one wants to hear this. So with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I decided to do a post about what I am thankful for right now.

I am thankful for my family, my daughters, my grandchildren, my nieces and cousins. I am blessed to still have some family and I love and treasure every moment I have with them. We never know when life will throw us a curve ball and we won’t have these people, so spend time with them, love them, and tell them you love them.

I am thankful for my friends. I can’t say enough about the wonderful people in my life who I call my friends. They are really more like family to me, that is how much I care about them. They have gotten me through the darkest days of my life and are still by my side. I’m not sure it is easy to be my friend, so believe me when I say these people deserve some kind of award.

”When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” ~ Tecumseh

I am thankful for my health. I am thankful that I can get up every morning and walk down the stairs. I know there are people out there that can not do that and I don’t take it lightly that I can. I try to stay healthy and exercise. I even eat pretty healthy for the most part. But if some ice cream happens to find its way into the freezer and I eat it, I don’t let it make me feel guilty. Much like what I posted earlier…we dont know how long we have on this earth and I don’t want to die one morning knowing I deprived myself of ice cream the night before.

I am thankful for each and every day I wake up. I give thanks the first thing every morning that I am blessed to wake up another day.

I am thankful that for the first time in like 20 years I don’t have to work Black Friday…in retail! You dont know how thankful I am for this. I used to love working that day, it was so busy the time passed very quickly and people were nice. That is no longer the case. Most people are in such a hurry and are not very nice to the people that wait on them. So, to all of you in retail….may the gods of Black Friday be with you!

”Strive to find things to be thankful for, and just look for the good in who you are!”~ Bethany Hamilton

I am thankful for the beauty of nature. I love looking at the sky and finding things in the clouds that make me happy. My grandchildren love doing this as well and I love that they do. Sometimes they make fun of me since they are getting older but then one will say, “hey look, that cloud looks like a dinosaur.”

I am thankful for coffee! It gets me going and helps me cope… the same can be said for wine! And…ice cream!

I am thankful for the days when I walk into another room and remember why I walked in there. Believe me when I say these day are few and far between!

I am thankful for people who make me laugh! Laughing out loud until I cry is one of my favorite things and I am grateful for the people who make me do that!

And finally I am grateful for the people who read my blog and comment! And tell me they miss my posts. Thank you all!

”In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

Be that person who rekindles another persons inner spirit!

 

03Nov/17
family

I Want Things Back The Way They Were…

Aging, Life, ,

I know it’s not possible…but I still want it!

I miss all my family members who are no longer here….

The holidays are coming…whether we want them to come or not! I see the ads on tv and the decorations going up in the stores. I used to love the holidays and now I don’t.

I had a huge family growing up. I was one of the lucky ones. My mother was one of 8 and my father was one of 5. I had so many aunts, uncles and cousins it was hard to keep track of all of them. But it was so wonderful having a large family and getting together with them to celebrate the holidays. We spent most holidays together, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day….and then Thanksgiving and Christmas was just our immediate family.

One by one over the past few years we have lost so many family members and we continue to lose them. I know this happens to every family and I know it is a part of growing older. I accept that. I don’t like it..but I accept it. What I have trouble accepting is the people I have lost due to them dying before their time and therefore changing the way we celebrate or actually not celebrate anymore.

My oldest child and I were just discussing what we would do for Thanksgiving this year. Would we go out to eat or just make something for the two of us here at the house? It’s just us now, her and I. My youngest lives over 500 miles away, and my middle child is gone. Many years ago we used to go to Mom’s and then we started going out to eat when it got to be too much for her. My youngest daughter would have it at her house in later years and then after she moved my son and daughter in law continued the tradition. Now none of those is an option.

It never really mattered where we had our gatherings…. it only mattered that we were all there. Everyone together, laughing, playing stupid games until someone peed themselves…usually my sister. And then later the men would all gather in a room with a tv and the women would be in the kitchen cleaning up the mess and having a little extra dessert. Now due to the death of my son and my daughter living in Vermont it leaves my older daughter and I… just us two. There will be no big celebration or gathering of family and friends.

family gatherings

this is the way it used to be…

It isn’t just Thanksgiving. As we talked the other night.. we realized this is “it” now. This is our new normal…or whatever “it” is. With most of the family gone and so many friends who have moved away…it’s just her and I. So what’s the answer? Can you rent a family? Maybe we should volunteer somewhere… I know we were lucky to have had the family we did, but sometimes having had that just makes it harder when you don’t… and I’m really not trying to play the “poor me”….”pity us” card. I’m just asking where does that leave us…

What do other people do? I know we can’t be the only ones that this has happened to. Maybe we should advertise in the paper… we can’t be the only two that are alone. And I know I am not alone. I have my daughter here, thank goodness. But what if I didn’t? I like spending time alone and have done it for a long time now. That isn’t what we are talking about here. I’m talking about not having my people anymore. Not having our family gatherings anymore. This is the time of the year you spend with family and we don’t have any to spend it with…living here in the area. Last year I begged my niece to have Thanksgiving at her house. I just didn’t want to be alone so close to losing my son. She did of course and we had a wonderful family time together. (and just fyi, women were in the kitchen and men in the living room with the tv..LOL)

There have been few times in the past when I wished I didn’t have to go to the family gathering. I wanted to do something different…go somewhere else….spend time with some other people for a change…just once… “What’s the big deal, they won’t even miss me if I don’t go.” This is what I thought at the time. But that’s not how it is at all. I would have been missed and it would have made a difference if i wasn’t there. I know that now… I didn’t then. Why does it take us so long to realize the value of family and the people we love? Now I get it. Now I would give anything to have those special family times back.. Just one more time!

Do you get together with your family? Do you still have a large family? Do you enjoy your times together?

“Family is not an important thing, it’s everything.” ~ Michael J Fox