A Month of Thanks

For the last few years, at the urging of fellow facebookers, I tried to come up with at least one thing per day that I was thankful for during the entire month of November. Some days were easier than others. Today I was easily able to be thankful to come up on the curve at Longwood Gardens and see the Christmas lights on the same trees as when I was a little kid. Other days I resorted to being thankful for cereal, because quite honestly, it was the best I could come up with. Focusing on gratitude can be a difficult thing in the midst of everyday life. I have noticed my own increasing frustration with what I feel to be petty, artificially created drama. Somethings just don't matter. With that being said, its so easy to focus on what doesn't matter, instead of focusing on what does. What matters to you may not be high on my priority list. And the things I hold strong convictions about may be completely lost on you. I don't expect everyone to feel the way I do. I guess, on some days, I just wish that the way I feel didn't feel so counter to everyone else.

So its in those moments of isolation that I rely heavily on drawing from what really matters to me in life. And on some days its a really good bowl of cereal. On other days its the memory of being a little kid and seeing those Christmas lights as I come around the bend on Route One. I lit up like a little kid tonight when I saw that weeping willow twinkling the same way it has since before I can remember. I heard my own child's excitement. I realized in that moment what my mother must have felt when we drove by all of those years. And I said to Max, "I'll really miss Mom this Christmas but I know that every time we drive by here, we still have a part of her." He totally got it. And for that, I'm most thankful.