Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thankful

Thanksgiving day has always been a big holiday for us.  Usually we are at hockey tournaments and out of town or out of state even for this holiday, but this year we have no hockey and we aren't travelling.  This is the first year in about 15 years that we aren't doing hockey or hockey related Thanksgiving.  We don't quite know what to do with ourselves for holidays anyway since there is always an empty chair at our table, no matter where we are.  Holidays are hard - also no matter where we are.  It is hard to find "a reason for the season"  so to speak, and find meaning in what we are doing.  That's really a daily thing.  Every day! We had planned to go to my moms house this year for the celebration, but a giant winter storm moved in and we got 6" of snow and then it rained all night on top of that and driving is a hazard from where I live - so we are having a thankful "snow day" here.

It has been a long time that I have had a snow day that didn't still end up being a work day anyway - but today since it is Thanksgiving and everything is mostly closed, I get to sew and write and be thankful!


This is the view from our front porch, out toward the road, which has just been scraped but not sanded - the scraper truck got stuck!  Yikes!  Thankful I didn't try to drive anywhere today! Thankful also that these trees have survived - beetles, drought and wonky winter weather and they stay beautiful throughout!


Thankful for this view too - even the tree eating moose in it!


I am thankful for these two guys - husband and son - no matter what - marching with me.
And for the great kitchen I have to cook and share in, in my cozy house with a roof over it and my cozy bed inside.




Thankful for these boys - Reed and nephew Chance.


I am thankful for the 23 years we got to have this guy - and his friends - in our lives.  We miss him terribly, and the pain is the same every day, daring us to get out of bed and function....but the memories, ahhhhh the memories....



I am thankful for the mother, and grandmother who taught me to quilt - and who quilts with me.  Quilting has saved my life more than once, giving me something creative to do - making gifts that have meaning - thus giving meaning to my day.

I am thankful for friends and kids and family who keep me marching - knowing that I have to keep going so that they also will.  I am grateful for their courage and bravery and joy!


I am thankful for the friends who sit with us when we cannot go any further, and who take us out of our comfort zone (basically make us get off the couch and go do stuff) and who let us experience joy without judgement when we cry sometimes through the joy.  They are there for us.  There are many more than are in the pictures - I don't have pictures of all of you~


 Aunt Cinny at quilt retreat - I think she may have been thinking about
giving me the bird - she didn't though! She keeps me going...
Thankful for these three who have come with us and struggled with us through all of the crazy crap.  Who also have had their own struggles and crazy crap and trauma, and who keep going despite it all.  Keep f'ing going.

SO thankful for the family of friends and co-workers I have at the school!  Here we are at the annual Holiday meal - this group serves 500 people from the community at a fun, free event with prizes and games.  It is an incredible amount of work and it is done with such love.... this group amazes me daily, not just for the volunteer stuff they do but for he work - hard work that they do every day as well!


Family at the highland games - thankful for that experience and the history behind it!

I am thankful for the love of tea.  I love coffee too but tea allows us to take a moment each day for ourselves.  Coffee gives me the get up and go, but tea lets me enjoy the results of the day.  And there are lots of teas that can be drunk at night and still lets me dream sweetly- I haven't found a coffee that will do that!



I am thankful for hockey family.  No matter where in the world you go, when hockey folks find out you are also hockey folks, you are also family.... no matter where you are from.


Thankful for the joy of hockey!  The way it brings kids from 1 to 95 together to play, have fun and experience joy.  Look at those smiles!  




 Thankful for these people.  My parents and my grandparents.  I am here and who I am because of these people - straightening out my crown - helping me remember whose grand daughter and daughter I am, and reminding me of the reasons to keep going -on the daily. 

Thankful is hard - it took me all day to finish this even with so many pictures to show things I am thankful for.  I hope thankful is easy for you and that your day has been filled with things that will become memories to be thankful for!  Blessed be and be thankful.




No comments:

Post a Comment