Thanksgiving Thoughts

I really do love Thanksgiving.  My family keeps things relatively small since my aunts, uncles, and cousins live all over the country and my grandparents passed away years ago.  My mother's brother lives in Westchester, but we usually get together with them for Christmas.  Thanksgiving is spent at home with way too much food for four people and a voracious Golden Retriever.  It's nice not having to worry about getting the house ready or making a ton of food for a family of 13.  I can go an run a 5K in the morning and make a pecan pie at 12 in the afternoon.  The only thing you have to worry about is keeping Shadow off of the table ;)

I am thankful for so many things in my life, I don't even know where to begin.  I'm thankful to have parents that support and provide for me while I'm trying to navigate my way through my early twenties.  I'm thankful to have a brother that I can call a best friend, which I know many siblings cannot do.  I'm thankful for Shadow, who loves me unconditionally, is always happy to see me, and shows me how to be a fighter.

I'm thankful for all of my friends, old and new.  I am thankful for those friends that I don't talk to regularly but when we get together neither of us can stop talking about our lives.  I'm thankful for events like Alumni Weekend and Wildwood that allow me to connect with old friends that I do not get to see that often because of the distance between us.  I'm thankful for girlfriends I can squeal with and go shopping with and I'm thankful for guy-friends I can joke around and make a fool of myself with.  I am thankful for the people in my life that enrich my mind, listen to my issues, keep my secrets, and share my beliefs and values.  I hope to tell people that more often this holiday season.

It still hurts, but I am thankful for the time I had with Pat and for being able to call him a friend.  I'm thankful for the photos we took together, the ultimate we played together, and the trips we went on.  After all of this is over, I'm thankful to have the memories of our time together.

I'm thankful for this body that can run 5Ks in under 30 minutes and play ultimate all weekend.  I'm thankful for these hands that can craft, cook and bake, and write in this blog so I can share my story with everyone.

I'm thankful for everything I have learned while at Ramapo College, and for being able to get into the program at the last minute.  I am thankful for Michael who helped me through a very difficult time in my life.  I am thankful for having been able to go into classrooms and see methods and theories put into action.  And right now, I am so thankful to the Board of Ed and the people at Woodside who got me a student teaching position in a 5th grade class.

I feel like to say I'm blessed is sort of cheesy, and I feel like to say I'm lucky would be a jinx.  So I am just going to say I'm thankful to everyone (including my readers!) who have helped me become the person I am today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Posted by Ali B at 12:03 PM