originally written December 5, 09
For many years I've had to work around Thanksgiving, so traveling the 200 miles to be with my family for one day did not generally happen. Instead Dave and I spent it by ourselves, or an evening with friends. This year was different, we spent it with Dave's brother Mark, and his family Shelley and the girls.
With Shelley and I not working this year we had fun checking the Sunset Magazine website for tips, planning the entire meal together and sticking the menu and schedule to the fridge in preparation of the big day. Then Thursday morning, armed with coffee/tea in one hand and purses in the other, we headed out the door for those early Christmas sales. Both of us having worked retail in the past and never bothering with these crazy sale days we decided to check it off our Bucket List, just to say we'd done it! Upon our return, overstuffed bags in toe, we stashed the goods and switched on the parade. The rest of the day we shared the kitchen preparing the grand feast, while the kids played and the men napped. This was a home bursting with love, laughter, and life. Later after dinner, with all of us settled around the TV watching Angels and Demons, I felt I was in a Norman Rockwell painting. Eating homemade pumpkin pie, snuggled up on the couch with Dave, while the kids were stretched out on the floor with giant pillows, it just felt right. It was the cozy comfy feeling I was familiar with but times ten. Family can't be together all the time, but a day like this is a memory worth having.
When I was 28 I spent my summer up in Alaska trolling for salmon along the southern panhandle. I lived on a 30 foot boat, chasing salmon who were staying farther off shore than previous years, and competing with fleets of other trollers and seiners for these same fish. Every morning we'd leave our homemade dock at 4:00 am and head out into the choppy seas to reach our special fishing spot. "Thank You" became my mantra, thank you for the fish, thank you for keeping us safe, thank you for the experiences I was gleaning. Following that summer I continued the habit, finding something to be thankful for everyday, often more than one thing, and voicing it aloud. It's funny how today Dave and I still continue to practice this habit, whether it's the truck starting on a cold morning, having family around us, our health, work, or just each other, a day doesn't go by without me saying "Thank You". We don't need one special day a year to remind us of all the things we have to be thankful for. Instead that one day is reserved for extra special together time and it doesn't matter if it's with lots of family or just us. We don't even care if we have all the trimmings or a large pizza (we've done that one year). This year we've been blessed to have the time to spend it with our family and in such a traditional manner.
Life was never meant to be stumbled through only to wake up on the "special" days marked on a calendar. We whiz through the day with our head down, and then wonder where the time went. It didn't go any faster than other days, we just don't notice what was going on around us. We don't live in the NOW. Remember that old adage, "Don't forget to stop and smell the roses?", well it's true. Noticing the insignificant and finding joy in the simple things are the building blocks of our lives. Life is unexpected, and no matter how hard we would like to know what the future holds for us isn't it more exciting not knowing, being in awe of the magic that is before us? Make everyday a celebration? Live in the NOW! Be thankful everyday for all that it brings, for tomorrow is a different day and brings new joys and wonderment with it.
