Tags

, ,

November 25, 2021

I usually take time on this day to sit down and write the things I’m thankful for. I’ve been posting daily on FB – just a simple post with one thing for which I give thanks. It’s not hard this year – this second year of COVID times – because so much happened to me this year. Plants, flowers, and a candle – all simple but beautiful things for which to be thankful. That vase is a Rosenthal wrinkled bag vase that brings back happy memories of when I lived in Germany (a million years ago). The roses were two from the bouquet that my cousin got me earlier in my recovery. The plant is one of my favorites – a cousin of the African violet, petrocosmea kerrii. And that Yankee candle in the Harvest scent is one of my favorites.

I looked back over old blog posts to see what I was thankful for in years past. The themes are familiar. Here’s a sampling:

2008

I am thankful for my family . . . for my friends . . .that I have a job . . . that I have a roof over my head and food to eat . . . that I have a car to drive . . . warm clothes to wear. I am thankful for every single day that I wake up – life is short and I long ago stopped wishing away my days. I’m thankful for every minute I have, even the irritating ones (my friends call me a ‘glass half full’ person). I’m thankful that I am healthy, that I can hear, I can see, I can sing, and dance, and make music. I’m thankful that I can knit, and spin, and create with my hands. I’m thankful that I have loved and been loved. I’m thankful that I can walk to work – well, walk to the train and then to work. I’m thankful that I live in Chicagoland. The list goes on, but you get the picture. I’m a very lucky woman. Pretty much the luckiest woman in the world, if you want to know the truth :-)

2010

I am thankful for every day that I wake up . . .
I am thankful for the roof over my head and the food on my table . . .
I am thankful that I have a job . . .
I am thankful that I have health insurance . . .
I am thankful that I am an American citizen . . .
I am thankful for the wonderful friends I have . . .
I am thankful for my wacky family . . .
I am thankful that I can read . . .
I am thankful that I can read music . . .

2011

My Iona Sister, Tori, is here for a visit. Yay! She helped me clean out one more kitchen cupboard . . . and we found the oldest thing yet. This [an old box of baking soda] expired in 2003 . . . OMG. that means it was my mom’s, and she’s been gone 7 1/2 years . . . Well, it’s all out now – flour, baking soda, baking powder, old spices – all of it out. A quick trip to the store, and I have all new baking stuff :-) I am so very grateful for all the blessings of my life. I have so much to be thankful for. I hope, on this day of all days, that you will look around you and give thanks.

2015

I have so much to be grateful for – not the least of which was a wonderful dinner at my cousin S’s house today with other members of my extended family.  It was excellent!  I hope wherever you are that you have had a Thanksgiving full of love and joy and family and friends, and really good food. As we head full tilt into Christmas, I hope to remember the words of Julian of Norwich when things go completely sideways during the Holidays (they always do at some point  :-D ): ‘All shall be well.  And all shall be well.  And all manner of thing shall be well.’

2020

This day after Thanksgiving was quiet for me.  It’s dark already and I haven’t looked at my phone all day long.  Mostly been a day of leftovers and watching television.  Tomorrow I will be back out for a walk at the very least.  This has been an ‘annus horribilus,’ as The Queen would say.  But for all the shit and all the pain and all the loneliness and all the anguish and all the fear – here I am.  Healthy.  Safe. And here is our country – about to be led by two strong and healing Americans.  I can’t think of anyone better to navigate us to what will hopefully an ‘annus mirabilis’ in 2021.  I remain grateful for every morning that I wake up to the gift of another day . . . 

Which brings me to today. It’s Thanksgiving. I’m alone for a second year in a row with a chicken breast and other Thanksgiving fare, including jellied cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie (both once-a-year treats). Even if my extended family was gathering this year, I cannot get my vaccine booster until after my surgery recovery period, so no holiday gatherings for me for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I’m so f-ing tired of COVID. And yet . . . I am thankful that I woke up this morning and that I have so very much to be thankful for – especially this year:

  • I am cancer-free (!!!!)
  • I am an endometrial cancer survivor (!!!!) (I could stop here with these first two, because, you know – I beat cancer – but there is so much more . . . )
  • I have avoided COVID
  • My cranky kidney has calmed itself back down
  • The saga of the failed root canal finally had a happy ending this year
  • I am fully vaccinated (and will be boosted in mid-December)
  • I have a beautiful home with an amazing sunroom
  • I have wonderful family and friends
  • So many have cared for me during my cancer diagnosis, surgery, and recovery
  • I have the best doctors and other health professionals
  • I can hear
  • I can read
  • I can make music
  • I have a safe car and I can drive
  • I was the course administrator for the CSKMS Beginner Certification Course and I just loved it
  • I am retired (and loving every minute of it even though it has been nothing at all like I had planned)
  • I got to visit my Iona Sister, Tori, this summer and we had a blast for three weeks
  • I figured out the man I had been seeing was not the man I thought he was (really thankful for this)
  • I have warm clothes, a warm coat, and plenty of hats and gloves
  • I restored the lining in my mom’s old beret so I can wear it comfortably again
  • No one in my close family got COVID
  • I woke up this morning :-)

It’s a good list. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving – I wish you love and happiness, and comfort and joy.

The daughter and family of the husband of one of my cousins refuse to get vaccinated and they all got COVID last month. Rather than getting treatment, they scoured the Internet to see if they could buy Ivermectin. To make things worse, these idiots exposed my cousin and her husband to COVID. Thankfully they were both OK, but gathering as a large, extended family is hard now because while all my personal extended family members are vaccinated, that extended family is not.

Even though we will not physically be together today, we hope to Video Messenger with each other to raise a glass to celebrate – and I will be thankful to see everyone remotely.

This song was written for Thanksgiving in 2020, but it holds true as we roll into year two of COVID. I urge you to actually watch this video – don’t just listen to it. It’s so beautifully done.

This is Ben Rector, The Thanksgiving Song