Skip to main content

Day 329: Thanksgiving!

The tanksgiving!

I brought my trusty old laptop along this weekend with visions of crafting profound daily posts about my Thanksgiving thanksgiving, which I know was a totally adorable goal. I actually spent most of my weekend screen time shopping online and working on photo gifts for people and blogging didn't actually cross my mind more than once. I can't get the blogger app to work for anything except uploading my high quality photos, and so here I sit several days behind. Again.

We traveled for Thanksgiving, and Thursday actually went really well. We started the first leg of our journey by listening to a Jimmy Buffett concert on the aforementioned free XM trial. It was actually a fantastic way to start Thanksgiving.

Most of us are quick to proclaim gratitude for our family, friends, faith and for the things we need like food, clothing and shelter. And we should! But I don't know if I can say anything that hasn't been said about those things. When I think of my family, friends, and faith I realize that without them, I'm really not me. And so when I think of thanksgiving, I often think of smaller, less noticeable things.

The Jimmy Buffett music brought to mind several areas of gratitude that aren't exactly what I had expected to be grateful for on that day.

"One Particular Harbor" always reminds me of my favorite place, Lake Upsilon. I have countless wonderful memories there, and several specific ones came to mind as we drove down the highway listening. The people and experiences from those times formed me into who I am and are a treasured part of my life.

I still remember when I first heard "Margaritaville." I was in second or third grade and we'd taken a family trip to Phoenix during the winter. I was surprised to still have vivid memories of that trip, which I hadn't really thought of in years.

It's far too late for me to go into the specific memories which flooded my mind as I pondered Thanksgiving Day and listened to that Buffett concert. What I took away from that 90 minutes is a reminder of the up-and-down-and-sideways path my life has taken to get to this particular point. Of the people who have come in and gone out of my life, often with much mourning on my part. Yes, I do have a few regrets, but I wonder now if those things or events played out the way I did as a God-planned way to get me here.

Here's a slimmer, more fun me on the way to see a Buffett show in 2008. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hey! Remember me?

Hey! I'm still here! I haven't given up on ye olde blog just yet, but I haven't had much to write about. I've been spending most of my time reading, mothering, household-running, reading, watching Instagram stories, and house hunting. Whew. Summer is flying by at breakneck speeds and I can barely keep up. I've read more books already than I did last year, which I think is saying a lot because I read more books last year than any year since I became a mother. I didn't set a number goal, but I did list out 10 or 15 that I wanted to get to. I've finished most, including the Harry Potters, but not all. It's a good reading year! Right now I'm reading one by a woman who gave up the Internet for a year. Insert scared emoji face. House hunting will likely be a whole separate post...someday. I have a few other posts in the rusty old brain, so we'll see if they come to fruition. I just didn't want you to forget about me!

Day 149: Date with Mom

Mom and I slipped away yesterday afternoon for a trip to town. We had a relaxing couple of hours away from all the chaos at the lake. We shopped, drove around town chatting, I visited the sacrament of reconciliation, and we picked up my favorite small-town pizza joint pizza for supper. I love my hometown so much, but don't spend much time there anymore now that my parents live at the lake. I enjoyed cruising around town catching up on the changes and updates. Mom caught me up on local news, and I accidentally bought a dress, two shirts and a travel mug. That type of thing happens when I hang with my mom, but that's OK!  It was a wonderful afternoon and I'm grateful for our little escape. 

Day 98: Audible

I love reading! However, as a mom with three kids under six, I don't get a lot of time to spend with my nose in a book. I do spend lots of time with my nose to my iPhone reading blog posts, which are much shorter than books and require less of a commitment. I vowed to myself at the beginning of this year that I was going to read more, since it brings me so much joy, not to mention the relaxation factor I so desperately need. I've also mentioned once or twice or fifty times that I love podcasts. Last fall, after listening to a few episodes of The Simple Show  , I took Tsh up on her offer to try Audible for a month for free. The first audio book I downloaded was Patrick Madrid's "Envoy for Christ." Everything I've ready by him gets a thumb's up from me, so I loved it, and I also loved the platform. I could "read" a book while doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, watching the kids play in the yard. I was hooked. It only took me a couple of mo...