Why I Am Thankful This Thanksgiving Year!

Last year, four days before Thanksgiving, I lost my Grandmother. It was a painful time of year for not only myself but for my family as well. As we sat around the Thanksgiving table it was hard to find things to be thankful for when the one person that held our family together was now gone.

One year later my family is scattered all around and visits are far and between. Yet as I look back at that Thanksgiving and the one before me I know in my heart there are still plenty of things I am very thankful for.

The first and second reason is my children. I have been blessed with two beautiful boys. My oldest son is disabled and for many long years it was just the two of us. It was not an easy time but because of him I have come to realize the strength I have in myself and the joys of being a mother. With him came my second son almost eight years later. I used to say if I did not have another child by the time I was thirty I was never going to have anymore. He was a blessing in disguised when I found out I was carrying right before my twenty-ninth birthday.

My third reason is my mother. She has been my rock, my shoulder, and my best friend for almost ten years now. When I had no one to talk to or needed help with money or travel she was always there and still is.

I am also thankful for my husband. We have had our ups and downs, as do most marriages. Because of him I get to do the one thing in my life I more than anything and that is the joy of being a mother and being at home to raise my children - a privilege not to many mothers get to have.

Like most people, family is very important to me and that is why my step-father is up there as well. I grew up with a my real father, my step-father has been more of a father to me than my own. I know he will always be there for me and I am very thankful to have him in my life and to be a grandfather to my children.

My sister is just as important to me, yet I will never say it to her face. My older sister has a disease that is destroying her back and eventually it will cause her to become paralyzed. Each day I worry about her, and her children and pray the day does not come when I am told she can not walk anymore yet when it does I will be there for her just as she will always be here for me.

I can not say enough about my family. I am very thankful and grateful to have them in my life. Yet they are not the only things in my life I am grateful for. I look around the community I live in and I find myself glad to be here. It is a place where you can feel safe and secure. Where beauty is all around you. I am thankful it is my home.

I am also thankful that my oldest son is coming out on his own. I mentioned earlier he is disabled and through hard work he has improved so much. Whether he grows up to be 'normal' or always needs help I am very grateful and thankful that he, and all the other many people that have helped him over the years, have come so far in life.

My final reason to be thankful is also one of the more important ones. I am very thankful to be alive. Each year that goes by is another year of my life I get to spend with the ones I love and nothing will ever change that. My only wish in life is to see my children grow to happy young men and to have the chance to see them have a family of their own, an opportunity some families lose out on way to earlier in life.

Life is short and we need to make the most of it. With the way the economy is we can not always be with the ones we love but they will remain with us in our hearts. As long as I have my children with me at Thanksgiving I have everything in the world I need.