What I'm Thankful for This Year and Every Year

Another year and Thanksgiving celebrations roll around on us again after preparation yesterday, it's apparent that I'm the one who will be doing the cooking. Friends and family will be coming on over throughout the day and visiting for the weekend and perhaps even staying the night (cringe). Firstly I cook, and I'm thankful I learned not to burn everything over the years. In fact I had no choice but to learn how to cook because I've been single most my life and I'm always on the move so it was either learn to cook, or call for takeout or maybe go over to a friend's house, a restaurant, or maybe something microwavable which became pretty usual for me over the years. As dull as all that may sound this year started as early as yesterday with the final shopping last night. I started making vegetable trays and cheese dips and potato chip dips, and lot's of pies, apple, pumpkin, and blueberry. Today I'm prepping the favorites like sausage apple stuffing, coleslaw, mozzarella cheese scalloped potatoes, baked beans green bean casserole, just to name a few. If all goes well, I'll just need to prep the turkey tomorrow and bake up a storm. Funny part of this preparation that I should mention is that my oven has broken down all of a sudden, so I'm so thankful for Federal Express delivery given that the replacement is due sometime today. If not, I'll use my two portable ovens and I'm determined to pull this evening off knowing that I've faced worse over the decades, so this will be a breeze. And for that I'm thankful.

Every year around this time I really take inventory of all the good things in my life friends and family at the top the list of course. I'm especially thankful this year for all my digital friends that I meet on the Internet. There's too many to list, honestly. I've also had the pleasure of making friends with a few of you of you in real life, which is really been a joy. Its amazing how technology and someone like me with a little bit of intuition can bring people together. And for that I'm thankful.

Of course we should always give thanks for our health and the health of our families. We've had a great year and all of us are doing really really well. Yes, I had an appendectomy, but it was minor. I drove myself to the hospital and thanks to modern medical technology six hours later I drove home. And for that I'm thankful.

I am thankful for all the wonderful little good things in life that are given to us simply just for being born. Sunrises and sunsets, days with perfect weather, flowers, chocolate, friends. Thankful for the written word, for literature, for fiction as it is helps me expand my horizons exponentially passed what they might've been and for nonfiction for educating and instructing me. I'm thankful for pumpkin because it's good for me and taste delicious, especially for pumpkin pie, although it isn't that good for me, it's still delicious. I am thankful for the trees, for the outdoors, the far blue skies and the mountains that I so clearly love to climb. I'm thankful for for empathy in myself and others, for the ability to say I forgive you because in doing so we release ourselves as well. I'm thankful for the color and light and the way sunlight slowly, gently, lovingly illuminates the world starting at five o'clock in the morning every morning. For that we should all be thankful.

There's so much to be thankful for, there just isn't the space or time in this article. But just remember this, whatever you do, never stopped being thankful.