Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving Day last year was our first full day at home after spending 20 days at Riley.   We had no idea what we would encounter in the coming weeks, months.  But, we were thankful.  Like from the depths of our hearts, thankful.  We were thankful to be in our home, away from the beeps and alarms of all the monitors stuck to Elena.  We were thankful our daughter was alive.  I don’t think I've experienced a time of more thankfulness. 

While I don’t wish our circumstances upon anyone, I do wish that on this Thanksgiving, people would stop and think about what it actually means to be thankful.  Truly thankful.  I’m not talking about being thankful for “stuff”, for our present life situation, all of that is temporary.  I mean experiencing thankfulness at the most basic level.

This year I’m thankful for life.  I’m thankful for the chance to wake up each morning to a new day, a new opportunity.  I know how very fragile life is and how it can all in change in a single instant.  It is easy to complain about being tired, having too much to do, other people, our jobs and the countless frustrations we experience every day.  But in the midst of all those complaints, if we could just stop and realize that NONE of that matters.  What does matter is taking advantage of every moment God gives us to live and love. 

I often hear complaints from other Mom’s about my kid won’t stop doing this or drives me nuts when they do that.  My heart clenches at the thought of their complaints being something I am desperate for my Elena to do.  It’s no fault of their own, but it does make me stop to think how silly my own complaints are sometimes.  And that there is most definitely someone, somewhere who would gladly assume the situation I’m complaining about.  It is a reminder that even though we've been dealt a difficult situation, we really have SO much more to be thankful for than to complain about. 

So today, on the ONE day a year designated to being grateful, let’s remember the basics, not the stuff, not the difficulties we each face.  Let’s give thanks for life in all its fragility.  For each breath.  For each moment we have to spend with the ones we love.  For the things that really matter.

Happy Thanksgiving!