Purposeful Ramblings Through My Mind

On this not-yet-sunny Thanksgiving predawn (I'm generally thankful for my body clock, but seriously, this is ridiculous) I have my list of things I'm thankful for. Unlike previous years, they're in no particular order, simply as they come to me.

I'm thankful for:

My family and my in-laws. I am 100% sure they love me and want what's best for me and mine, and I've had brought home to me this week how momentous a thing that is for some people.

My husband. He's my rock and I don't know how I got lucky enough that he wanted me and I him.

My daughters. They're sweet and funny and loving and smart. I'm grateful for their presence in my life and their good health.

My work. I always believed teaching should feel like a calling, and these last couple of years, it's started to do that. It stresses me out on a regular basis, but the balance is that I know I'm making a difference in my community.

My friends. On the list of good problems to have, I think trying to rent a hall so you can invite all the fifty-odd people you'd like to have at your house for Geeksgiving, and then lamenting all the ones too far away to make it, is pretty near the top of the list. I'm grateful for the fun times I have with each group of friends, for the gaming, for the intellectual stimulation, and for the support when I need it.

The ability to offer support to others when they need it, and the worthiness of my friends to receive it and pay it forward when they get the chance. It becomes, not just a circle of caring, but a spiral, spreading outward to touch more and more lives.

My health. The most mindful of people don't really know what it's like to lose that until they've gone a while without it. I have done that since last Thanksgiving, and I'm grateful also that I wasn't sick very long in the grand scheme of things, and not consistently debilitatingly so. I have it back now, and I'm working on aspects of wellness that have been too long ignored (with the help of another friend!) and while there's plenty still to do, I'm grateful for what I've got.

My home. It's rather small, it's stuffed to the rafters, and there are problems we can't deal with immediately, but it houses my family and me and allows us to welcome friends and family, it's in a good neighbourhood that I like, and it is building wealth for us every month as we pay into it. I'm familiar with the struggle it can be for families to own their own home - I was sixteen when my parents realized that dream for the first time.

My educational opportunities. I'm continuing my education right now and plan to continue it further. I always planned to get a master's degree, but I was in too much of a rush to get it right after my BAs. Now it's almost time, and I'm excited about it.

My spirituality. Fifteen years ago, I wouldn't have recognized what I now have as a legitimate expression of faith. I'm glad for my growth, I'm glad for a religious community that sets the context for my personal search for truth, and I'm glad for the freedom to pursue it without fear.

My country. My patriotism isn't generally the flag-waving type, and I'm certainly not blind to the problems in my country, but overall it's a pretty great place. How many other places are there in the world where a woman can get into her thirties without ever feeling the need to know anything about guns outside of a role-playing game? How many other countries where the idea of taking a summer to explore your country leads inevitably to the thought that two months wouldn't be long enough to even do a quick tour of the major cities by car? I'm grateful for the social programs available to me, especially for the role those programs have played in my health this past year. And I'm pretty happy to be living in one of the more geologically and meteorologically stable regions in the world, too.

My peripheral skills, like yarn crafts and playing the piano. They bring me joy and comfort and are one of the vehicles through which I create beauty.

My intellect and passion. Living thoughtfully and trying to make the world a better place are important to me, and I'm grateful that they are important and that I have the means to at least make the attempts.

I think that's a pretty good list. The sun is just peeking over the horizon, so the third and final day of this Thanksgiving is beginning. Whether you're celebrating now or at the end of November or not at all - Happy Thanksgiving.

I'm grateful for my husband. He's well named - my rock, my foundation. We've had nine years married and fourteen together, and we're still going strong.

I'm grateful for my children. I'm grateful for their health, but also for their sweetness and intelligence. I'm even grateful for Claire's toddler exhuberance (aka monkeytude.) I'm grateful for the gentle empathy of Elizabeth and the happy mack truck of Claire, even when the two clash. I'm grateful for every last hug and kiss.

I'm grateful for my extended family. We don't always agree, but on the whole we get along well, and there's so much love there. I know I can count on them, for myself and for my loved ones.

I'm grateful for my friends, the family we chose. Together we are more than the sum of our parts.

I'm grateful for the material wealth we enjoy. We're not rich by Western standards, but we never lack for things we need and rarely for things we want, which makes us some of the richest people in the history of this planet. I'm grateful that we work for what we have and are paid fairly for our labours. I'm grateful that the work I do matters. I'm important in the lives of so many children. While there are other callings that are on the same level, there is none higher.

I'm grateful for the region we live in. It is rarely hit by natural disasters - there hasn't been a really bad one since 1958 - and enjoys reasonable seasons and good land. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world I would have chosen to be born and grow up. I'm grateful for my country, whose big political issues are problems even our nearest neighbours would give their right arms for the ability to trade for their own. We've done a pretty good job of this social democracy thing, all things considered.

Happy Thanksgiving.