Thankful at Thanksgiving

It's time for the annual listing of one's blessings!  As I was contemplating what to write and started off thinking, "I'm thankful for God, and for everything he's given to me...", I realized that this sounded like some stupid award's show where one's acceptance speech starts off the same way, thanking god during an acceptance speech for singing a song about shaking your ass and other "wobbly bits" in front of someone, or inciting other people to do the same while listening to your song (however catchy it might be).  It seems not only ironic, but completely and utterly WRONG!!  So, to avoid sounding like such a cliche, I decided that wouldn't be the best way to start my list.

I just spent the last couple of days with an aunt that I have had very little occasion to visit during most of my life.  Several states have separated us since I was elementary/middle school age, and because traveling is expensive, the little time we did see each other was short and separated by several years.  Now I live only a few hours away, and have been able to visit a few times already in the short time I have lived in Arizona.  It has been a real blessing...for several reasons.

One, there is nothing like having family to be with when you are separated from the large majority of them. 
Two, it is wonderful to be able to spend time with that family after years of not being able to.
Three, my mom's sister (as much as they are different) are a lot alike, and being with my aunt feels so similar to being with my mom...different but the same.  They hug the same way, big, long and strong, where if it lasts more than several seconds you start wondering if you will be able to breath again.  There's nothing better!  The other similarity is that they are both great cooks...and not the fat-free kind.  I'm talkin' meat and potatoes, homemade cooking, without recipes or measuring cups, but full of love!  Thank God I grew up in this kind of family!  I'm haulting on reason three for a moment while I share some more blessings.
While visiting for Thanksgiving, I was taught how to make the turkey, how to make stock, gravy, stew, and soup, how to live off one 20 pound turkey for a year, which is like teaching a man to fish instead of just feeding him for a day. :)  I had many moments of reflection over my family this holiday, moments where I was thinking through how I was raised, what kind of family and culture I come from, and how grateful I am for it all.  True, I may be lacking in knowledge of the finer things in life, I might have lived a "sheltered" life in some ways, but I was taught about things that matter, family, love, God, hard work and self-respect.  So while I may not be able to tell the difference between Monet and Picasso, I know what it means to be loved and to love back.  I know the difference between a liar and a friend, a fake and an authentic.  I was taught to love people, not things, and that family is most important.  I was raised in church, where potlucks and softball games were the usual, where everyone is in your business, and that even though people look like they have it all together, no one does.  I learned that God trumps everything.  I learned invaluable skills like fishing and how to bait my own hook, learned to cook while standing next to my mom in the kitchen, music because my house was filled with singing and the family piano, watched my dad filet a fish on the picnic table in the back yard while my mom got the beer batter ready to fry it up, knew that hunting season was really important not only for male bonding, but because it filled our freezer for the entire year with meat for our family.  I great up knowing guns were meant for hunting for food, for protection, not for hurting others.  I knew that I better respect my elders or I would get a smack across the mouth or the butt.  Either one hurt enough to remind me the next time my ignorant youth wanted to cross the line it was best to bite my tongue.  I watched my dad fix the car and change the oil in the driveway, and that it was best not to disturb him while he was "yelling" at the car. :)  I learned how to care for animals, and respect the danger in some of them.  My family is loud, sarcastic, blunt, stubborn, middle class, blue collar, hunters, fishers, cooks, always laughing together, sometimes fighting each other, but always come back to love for each other.  Yeah, I'm a hick, but I don't mind if you call me that, because I'm proud of who and what I come from. :)
All these thoughts were running through my head this weekend as I'm being fed amazing food, and learning more about my family members and enjoying this time with my aunt.  And I realized how many things I am truly grateful for.  I mean, once you crack the "thankfullness box" open it's pretty hard to stop.
Moving on...
I'm general thankful for lots of other things, my family and a relatively healthy year for everyone, for my siblings and all the things they have accomplished this past year and continue to do, my parents that they are working, healthy and happy.  I'm thankful for a job, a place to live, the ability to provide for myself, and for the health that I do have, and the improvements I've had in that area this past year.  I'm thankful for my friends, scattered all over the country and the world, and that we have social media to be able to keep in touch and be involved in each others' lives dispite the miles between us.  I'm thankful for new friends, and how they are adding to my life, and letting me add to theirs.  I'm thankful for finding a church that I love and has challenged me in my spiritual life.
The list could go on and on.  Like I said, it's hard to stop being thankful for things once you take a minute to think about it.  I could spend my whole life wondering what if, or pondering choices made, or chances not taken.  I could wish for a more affluent upbringing, or a life of luxury.  But why?  I love what I had, love what I have, and know that I don't need things to make me fall in love with my future.  If I stay grounding in what's important, and remember to count my blessings I'm pretty sure that next year I'll be saying the same thing I am this year...that I'm so filled with thanks and love that I couldn't possibly need anything else in life.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!