Gratitude

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In fact, it is the only holiday I really like. I can't believe it's here already--I last remember celebrating the Fourth of July. Time is going way too quickly. I'd like to reschedule and postpone Thanksgiving for another week or two.

For many reasons, I'm not very excited about this year's Thanksgiving. Perhaps it just arrived too soon, and perhaps it has been an especially rough year. Time, money and motivation seem to be in short supply. My family in Atlanta will be feasting without me. It is too difficult to fly standby to Atlanta at anytime let alone during a holiday. I didn't even check the flights. Keeping up with my two jobs (Comair and Knitwits) has kept me incredibly busy. All that aside, why am I just not feeling it this year?

To answer that question, I've been reviewing my mental list of things that I am thankful for and my long list keeps growing--family, friends, a home, jobs, yarn, plentiful food, laughter, my MacBook, health....on and on. At the top of list sits our beloved Knitwits. I am overwhelmed by the number of invitations to Thanksgiving dinners I have been offered by my Knitwits family and friends. I am grateful beyond words. Knitwits stands for so many things that I enjoy--knitting, acts of service, creative thought, social interaction, use of my skills, abilities and experience, blah, blah, blah. But most of all, it is the sense of belonging that I feel at the shop. I feel very blessed to have a place like Knitwits--we do what we like, we buy what we want, we laugh and it makes me feel alive.

Blogging is very therapeutic. Through blogging I get a chance to sort out my thoughts and put words to my inner feelings. In writing this morning's blog, I realized that I have been celebrating Thanksgiving each and everyday. I am constantly thinking about the things and people that I am thankful for. I think about the best part of each day (thanks Not Steve), I savour each yummy meal as if it were a Thanksgiving feast and I know that I am cared for and loved by many, even though time, distance and other things may keep us apart.

I have chosen to stay in the 41017 this Thanksgiving. I am thankful that I had the choice to have the day off- many do not. I am looking forward to a yummy turkey dinner at Janet's. And, I look forward to seeing all of you!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy