Yes, it’s that time of year again. I really like having a day specifically to focus on the things I am thankful for in my life. I try to bring a general sense of gratitude to every day, and with my new appreciation of appreciation as a tool for social change, I also try to verbalize the appreciation of the things or the people I am thankful for to their source as often as I can. But Thanksgiving (and the days around it, which inherit many of its holiday characteristics) is a day to really focus on feeling that thankfulness all day and in as many ways as possible.
For me, spending time with family and friends on Thanksgiving is a huge part of what I am thankful for in my life. I actually like my family, and generally enjoy everyone’s company. Unlike a lot of other people (who have many more negative emotions associated with their families and family gatherings), I look forward to family rituals and events. I’m excited and thankful that I get to go over to my parents’ house and help cook (and eat!) the traditional Thanksgiving foods. I am thankful that we always make such delicious food, and that we so much enjoy spending time together making and eating it. I love the ritual of it, and that it’s something I get to enjoy over and over, not just once.
Watching my sister-in-law wrangle her two kids on Thanksgiving Day also reminded me that I’m incredibly grateful for how far I’ve come in my own parenting journey, and how much autonomy over my own time and body I’ve finally gotten back. It was not that long ago that I was chasing toddlers, dealing with baby schedules and kid food and having to focus on keeping kids entertained, all the while yearning to have a non-fractured conversation with the people I loved. Now that I can finally relax and not have to pay attention every moment to what my kids are doing or needing, I find myself much, much happier. So I am thankful, oh yes I am thankful.
Related, but not the same: I also find myself really thankful these days for burgeoning feeling that I am finally becoming the master of my own ship as far as what I spend my days doing. I am immensely thankful that I live in a time and a place and under circumstances that allow me a huge amount of personal freedom, both physical and mental. In particular, these days I am able to choose what I do and when I do it much more consciously and without being so influenced by “what other people think”. I am able to experiment with what makes me happy and what it means to “follow my bliss”. I am really grateful that the circumstances of my life have allowed me this free, open, experimental time, and I am committed to staying present with it as much as I can.
What else am I thankful for this year, or at least at this moment? The usual things, the core things, of course: food and shelter and safety and health. But also my increasingly excellent and deep relationship with my soul-mate and husband of 16 years, my two smart, kind, sweet boys and all the gifts and opportunities that parenting them has given me, my extended family and dear friends who are so loyal and supportive and loving. And then there’s the amazingly great place we live in: our cozy and creatively furnished home, our kind and friendly neighbors and safe, comfortable neighborhood, our snug and beautiful hobbit valley with its creek and trees and golden hills, our lovely liberal and artsy county with its beaches and mountain and good food. I do not take any of these things for granted, and I am grateful every single day for the people and the place that surround and support me.
I am also thankful for my (mostly) healthy body, that sometimes-neglected or taken-for-granted piece of astounding engineering that carries me so relatively easily through my days with so relatively little grief.
A bit farther out, but no less important: I am thankful for my creative tribe, especially my writer tribe and specifically my small circle of VPeeps, but also all the other “freaks” and works that inspire and continue to teach me how to live a large, unabashed “Supernova” of a creative, thoughtful life.
I am lucky. I am blessed. I am thankful. I will remember this.