/ˌTHaNGksˈɡiviNG/
noun
- 1.
the expression of gratitude, especially to God.
"he offered prayers in thanksgiving for his safe arrival" - 2.
(in North America) an annual national holiday marked by religious observances and a traditional meal including turkey. The holiday commemorates a harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621, and is held in the US on the fourth Thursday in November. A similar holiday is held in Canada, usually on the second Monday in October.
Greetings to you during the beginning of this Thanksgiving Week. A time of year where we celebrate so much. What a beautiful reason to gather with friends and family and take a moment to breathe each other in and enjoy a meal with one another. Can you imagine the first Thanksgiving? What a historical moment. The coming together of peoples to put aside all differences and embrace the beauty of all that life provides.
I love the quote above and in my own life I do try to live by similar words in my day-to-day life. On a beautiful day such as today where the sun is shining and as I walked around the city and through the farmer's market I winked to the skies and said "Thank you for the beautiful day." Even if the skies are grey, the wind is threatening to knock down my walls and I can't get out of bed, taking a moment to be thankful that I even have a bed helps me find some strength to start the day. It's not easy, and trust, there are days where I can swear I can't find a single thing, but I remind myself that I'm just not looking hard enough. Like this weekend. Let me just put it to you this way. It was a rough weekend. I said to myself on Saturday night, "Go to bed, wake up in the morning and it will be a new day." Well it was indeed a new day as science has a way of making these things happen, but Sunday continued on the same strange clumsy and downtrodden path. Again, I crawled into bed that night exhausted mentally and physically and said to myself, "Tomorrow, tomorrow will be be a better day." Thinking the world would magically be filled with unicorns and peace, I woke up the next morning forgetting this, tripping over that, forgetting my change at the corner store, showing up to locked doors at work... little things mind you.... but it felt as though the week was still suffering from its' own form of life's weekend flu and sneezing all over my day.
Then the door to work opened, the cashier gave me my $6 in change when I stopped in later that afternoon and he remembered me from the morning, I had time to grab what I had forgotten...so on and so forth. Yes there were strange things that happened over the weekend. In the restaurant biz we just shake our heads and exclaim: "It is a WEIRD" night. We all agree and yes, tomorrow is another day. There are no guarantees when you wake up, but you know what, you had the chance to wake up and that's a pretty amazing thing.
Life will humble you, knock you down to build you up or build you up to knock you down. You could have all the money in the world or no money at all. We all life here on the Earth, and we are all here together having so much to learn and share with one another. We may not figure it all out in a lifetime, but if we take a moment to listen and enjoy each other, we can cherish how we can all build each other up and keep each other strong when it seems the world is tearing us down.
I am thankful for the foundation in the little things. I may not have money, I may not have a family, house, car or a nameplate on my desk, but a smile or the story this stranger shared with me about her chicken today while I was at the market, truly made world a better place today.
Thank you for stopping by and I truly wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving. And if you find yourself alone for the day, just know I give thanks to you for taking a moment to spend the time with my thoughts. You are loved.
Gobble Gobble,
Blondesheep