Thanksgiving is celebrated today in the United States and it is one of the biggest holidays we have. We join together with others around a plentiful table and symbolically ‘give thanks’ for the things we are grateful for. While this is a blog and site dedicated to food, I wanted to share a little more than just that today.
In my short time here on the earth I’ve learned that gratitude is so very vital to one’s happiness and growth. Without it there can be no moving forward, no true love for others and no real love for oneself, either. But, what exactly is gratitude? For me, it is the ability to appreciate and be thankful for your situation and surroundings no matter what they may be. It’s the glass-half-full attitude that keeps so many in less-than-perfect circumstances going from day to day.
In my own life, as in everyone else’s, I have obstacles – and some rather large. Rather than succumb to the depression and sadness that can so easily manifest when things aren’t ‘perfect’, I choose to see things in a very different way.
I have two children that are Autistic. Rather than see this as a challenge (and, yes – it is) I see the bright side: they are smarter than most children and see things that the rest of us miss. They are bright and shiny and funny and beautiful – just like my other kids.
My husband had a very tragic accident two years ago from which he (and the rest of us) is still recovering. He fell three stories from the roof he was working on and was in a coma for 3 weeks. His body is still broken beyond mending and he is not emotionally or mentally the same man he was two years ago. This, too I choose to see differently. He is HERE. He was so close to death so many times during that ordeal that his being alive is a miracle in and of itself. He gets to spend each and every day watching his children grow up. Before the accident he was at work so much that he missed the kids’ first steps and first words and many other firsts that he now gets to be a part of.
I have seven children. Yes, that’s a challenge – but the bright side? I have seven children.
The learning and growing and revelation that comes from these adversities is mind-blowing. I am not the same woman I was before all of this, and I’m not sure I would want to be any longer. The depth of perception that has come from living daily with difficulties has only served to make me even more grateful than I was before. So, you see, it’s good to be me.
On this Thanksgiving, though I have been without food, shelter or transportation and am thankful for those things that I now have plenty of, and though I have seen family close to death and yet still have them, I choose today to be grateful for just being me – right where I am.