The years go by faster the older I get. But I’m thankful I’m still alive and able to notice. Today is Thanksgiving, a day to spend with family, eat way too much, and remember specifically, and in general, what we have to be grateful for.
Today I celebrate with a good chunk of my family. My three children, my husband, my mother, one sister, two nieces are here to share a large meal. Marty, Re, Candace, I send you light and love from afar.
2015 has been a strange, different, and wonderful year. We started building the home we have dreamed about for years. Thank you Bill for your generosity. I am awed by the amount of work my husband has done building this beautiful home so far. Joey, I appreciate your help too. I am especially thankful that my husband is still here with us. His stubbornness, his “I can do it myself attitude,” and his dedication to the house, and providing for his family, and to hunting, put him over the line in stress. He ended up in the hospital with a perforated ulcer requiring immediate surgery and a five day stay in the hospital. I am grateful for the medical team who worked on him, doctors and nurses and technicians. I am especially grateful for the insurance through Obamacare, which took care of all the medical expenses so we didn’t have one more thing to stress about. He is recovering nicely, if a little slow as far as he’s concerned.
This year I have been writing for NaNoWriMo and have used Tarot in the story and shuffled the cards repeatedly in developing characters and moving the plot along. I am so grateful for the spreads on writing I have found and how through using Tarot, the words have flowed out of me. Currently I have written 48,576 words and I have written every day this month. That is another habit I am grateful for.
My daughter, Camie, and I have been working together and what a blessing that has been. We create, we laugh, we work long hours and I love every minute of it. She is a gifted artist and it’s my pleasure and honor to help her bring her art out into the world.
I have this wonderful nephew who is a talented website developer and he and I have been working on a website to launch my tarot business. I can’t thank him enough for his skills, his humor, and his knowledge of the industry as we work together.
Joey, my oldest son, graduated from the Automotive Program at SCC this spring. I am so proud of him and thankful for the student aid that made it possible for him to attend. And I am especially thankful for his dedication to his studies and being in class every day. He’s a college graduate!
Andrew, my youngest child, is such a unique individual and I am thankful that he continues to be just who he is, despite the constant debate about life and meaning.
We have several cats in our life. Precious doesn’t like to be touched much, but she patrols the house and keeps us safe from invaders. Haru joined our family through his own determination to do so and Fluffy just wormed his way into our hearts. And I am touched by how they come to me for love, curling into me and purring. Thank you for allowing me to love you. Your love in return is just a huge bonus!
A fierce wind storm blew through our community last week. Trees were downed and power was knocked out all across the town and two people were killed by falling debris. We lost power for only 36 hours before it was restored but so many of my friends and some family were without electricity in freezing temperatures for over a week. I am grateful for the power company employees who worked tirelessly to get the trees cleaned up and the lines restored. I am especially grateful for the lights, the refrigeration of our food, and the ability to cook indoors, and the fan on the wood stove which moves the heat out and around the house. As the town continues to dig out of the mess the storm wreaked, I am grateful for the community that came together and showed this truly is a safe place to live and laugh and be, in a world that has seen so much tragedy.
I cannot express my gratitude for all the teachers and guides who have come into my life. Nor for friends and family who are such a loving presence, no matter what is happening. Words escape me as I try to express all the love I see and feel flowing through my world. Ha ha -me without words – imagine it!
Working and playing with tarot has brought more than even I understand to my life. Guidance, a spiritual practice, education, joy, writing, work. And oh my, the intelligent, funny, kind, and wise people who have shared with me, taught me, and become my friends, community, my tribe – thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I’ve made a regular practice of gratitude. Writing down at least 5 things everyday for which I am grateful helps to keep the focus on what I have, and off of what is not right. And surprisingly, even writing I’m grateful for an argument with my husband or something unkind that was said to me, has had a profound effect on my life. Just saying thank you, even if it’s laced with sarcasm at times, for everything that shows up for me has allowed me to find the lessons and the blessings in it all. Thank you for my life, wonderful, messed up, crazy and funny as it is!
For all these things and so much more, I am so grateful. May you all find the many blessings of your life. And find ways to focus on what’s good and right and true, so as to bring more peace, love, joy, and light into your life and thus spread it out into the world around you. What are you grateful for today?