So November is the month for thanks, right?  We celebrate the 200 yr old tradition of Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday of this month and generally this is a time for all families to congregate and share their share of turkey, dressin’, and mashed potatoes.

I love this time of year, for the most part.  This is generally the time of year when you get to celebrate holidays with the family, see friends that you haven’t seen in months or even years, and well lets face it, you also get fun gifts at Christmas.  Thanksgiving and Christmas will never be the same since 2005… as you all know, that was the year my brother died.  To be honest, the first Thanksgiving (in 2005) was numbing and pretty surreal.  Last year’s Thanksgiving was just purely awful.  I was in a horrible mood, albeit my boyfriend went with me to visit my family.  That was actually the highlight… that was the first time I’ve ever taken a significant other to a family holiday.  But for the most part, I was just not happy and I know now, a lot of it had to do with my brother not being there.  But what can you do?  I know!!  You move on.

So I am in the process of trying something new… and maybe I’ve decided to blog about this so those who read this can keep me accountable.  I want to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  I really, really, really want to ENJOY it.  Not just live it.  Not just go through the motions like I’ve done the last 2 years, but really enjoy it.  I have a lot to be thankful for.  Don’t get me wrong… I do not have the perfect life.  In fact, I can honestly say that these last 2 years have been some of the hardest years I’ve ever gone through.  Partly because of my brother, partly because of getting out of a horrible relationship and getting into a real, new relationship and partly because I lost my passion in my career, so I had to find a new one.  And thank God I did.

So, I’m still determining what I need to do and think and feel to have this year’s Thanksgiving be different and better and filled with JOY.  I want to enjoy JOY so to speak.  I do think, though, that it has a lot to do with moving forward.  And being truly thankful for what you have.  As I said earlier, I have a lot to be thankful for.  So I’ve decided to publicly list what I’m thankful for:

(1) My family – Mom and Dad are my heroes.  They’ve gone through more sh*t than any other parents that I know yet they still are married, still are awesome parents even though they’ve been dealing with a lot of unnecessary horrible sh*t (thanks to my WASTE OF A MOTHER “sis-n-law”) and they still love me and my brother’s kids.  That’s gotta count for something

(2) My boyfriend – James and I have been together for 1.5 years!  I can’t believe it.  My longest relationship.  Yet, even though we’ve had our share of fights and grouchiness, I love him with my heart and with all the right intentions and well, lets face it, that’s a rare thing to find in this world.  True love.

(3) My friends – this year has been a bit tough for me, I must admit.  I lost a best friend (a few actually) (not lost in the same way as I lost my brother, but lost as in we’re no longer friends) and I’ve learned a hard lesson in life – sometimes the people closest to you are the ones who hurt you the most and stab you the most and stomp on your heart the most.  Sometimes.  So why did I list “my friends” as something to be thankful for?  Easy.  I still have some of the best friends a guy could have.  My HBFs have been there for me through thick and thin.  Some of my Dallas gang, although we don’t hang out any where as much as we used to, are still here for me no matter what.  And I’ve had the great opportunity to meet some of the coolest friends at work.  We do, afterall, spend 70% of our time on earth with our coworkers.

(4) Last but certainly not least – I am thankful that God gave me/us a puppy.  Mr. Deco Pauge McCord-Greer.  I love my cat, Oliver… don’t get me wrong.  He’s also been one of my first loves (regarding pets).  But there’s just something about Deco.  He took out some of the darkness and bitterness and anger from my heart.  That might sound too “new age-y” for some, but it’s true.  He really has helped heal me.  I love him more than I ever knew I could love a pet.  He’s just the best dog in the world and I am THANKFUL that God brought him to James and I. 

So… enough of that.  There are a lot more things I am thankful about, particularly my health, my new car, my iPhone, etc.  But no need to bore you with all of my list of thankfulness.

I leave you with a simple thought: What are you thankful for? Spend some good, quality time thinking and meditating on what you’re truly thankful for and I GUARANTEE you, after you make your list, you’ll feel better and happier.  I promise.

Much love and many blessings…

McCord

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Life/Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.