I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday. It was a cold day here, but easily warmed by being with the ones I love. I am so very thankful for them! It was also warmed by the Detroit Lions winning over Green Bay! Let us give thanks for this holiday miracle!! 🙂
True to my nature, while busy preparing for our bountiful feast, I was unable to keep my thoughts from wandering. I thought about friends and family, and hoped they were having a lovely day. I thought about the nonsense of “Black Friday” that has now inconsiderately spilled over into Thanksgiving Day. I thought about myself and how I wish desperately that I didn’t have to work two jobs, one of which requires me to work at 5:00 am tomorrow morning. And I thought about people I don’t even know. People, who at this very moment are wishing they had someone to hold, wishing they had a home, wishing they had a job, wishing their child was safe at home, etc.
In thinking about all these things I realize how lucky and blessed I am. And I try to remind myself that even though I may go through a tough time here or there, somewhere someone is going through something far more difficult.
Now, I am not writing this to depress you, or to make you feel bad. I am writing this because I wish more of us would learn to appreciate what we have while we have it. I wish we would learn to be more thankful. I wish we would learn what the holidays mean again.
“Thanksgiving”…to give thanks! That is what this day is for, not to see who you can trample over to get the best sale in the store. Not to shorten your celebration, running out on friends and family. It saddens me that these stores are so money hungry nowadays. It saddens me even further that I am currently a part of the madness (but this is only temporary until my writing career takes off! 🙂 ).
Maybe I am over reacting to the whole thing, but it seems as I press further into my thirties I find myself wishing societies values were that of what my parents had growing up, even what my grandparents had. They didn’t have every shiny new toy under the sun. They didn’t have the most stylish of clothes. Sometimes they didn’t even have food. I remember stories that my Grandmother told me of the hand-me-down clothes, the meals made to last for days, etc. I remember all of that and I apply it to my life as much as possible.
At this time in my life I am not able to give my kids every single thing their hearts desire, but I am fortunate enough to have two extremely understanding children. They know I would give them the moon if I could, but they know circumstance has not allowed me to do so…yet. I have tried my best to teach them what is truly important in life, and what is truly important has so very little to do with material items.
So again, let’s take this time to show our appreciation for what we do have. For the love we can share. For the time we can spend with each other. For the life that we have, even if we haven’t reached our goals yet. Because while you may think you’re lacking, someone else is looking at you thinking you have the entire world.
G
©Gloria Tassen and Life According To G, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gloria Tassen and Life According To G with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Life According To G 