Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. ~Estonian Prove

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."- Shakyamuni


So I of course have several posts pending from previous dates, but I felt that it was important for me to insure the timely posting of this blog entry on this day. I am spending Thanksgiving alone. By choice. I just couldn't imagine stuffing myself on cranberry covered turkey and gravy moat filled mashed potatoes while my sister was traveling two hours each way for her chemotherapy.In past years, Thanksgiving has been a day I either spent being taken care of by my second family, the Chadwicks; or Danielle, mom, and I would get our little Boston Market Thanksgiving meals and spend the day laughing until we cried, or in mom's case dashed to the bathroom. Today I am profoundly appreciative for the wonderful friends and family that God has mercifully placed in my life to remind me that He knows who I am and what I need. I am grateful for the beauty of forgiveness and all the ways it has reverbrated in my life. Relationships I never thought would be possible to heal have been strengthened through the power of that principle. I have seen the miraculous power of forgiveness in the examples of so many friends of differing beliefs and backgrounds that I know I am richly blessed to live in a place where I can learn and grow from wonderful people who in their own ways are somehow different from me.Today I am indebted to the countless friends and loved ones who have taken up Danielle's cause so passionately and mercifully. Today I am unceasingly thankful for a family of faith, hope, and charity. For parents who scrimped and sacrificed their entire lives to give us a better one. Who taught us the value of working hard and doing your best and when you fall short to never give up. While I am still struggling with alot of those things I am eternally grateful for a family and friends who look beyond the me as I am and help me to work towards the me I want to become. So while I am spending this day in what may seem to the world as an anti-social manner I can honestly say the opportunity to meditate in solitude on the myriad of blessings one has received on one's life is fare better than a post-meal Turkey coma. At least this year....