Since many people celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend, I thought I would be incredibly original and do something that no one else has probably thought to do today and write a post on the theme of thankfulness.
This past year has given me so much to be thankful for. I’m so thankful that I want to shout it from the top of a mountain. But I don’t have a mountain. I have a blog page and the Internet. I write blogs. That’s what I do. And today’s top story, in Kayla Young’s world, reads something like this: I love Veronica Corningstone. Shoot. No. I totally got carried away with my Anchorman reference. What I meant to say was this: I’ve got a lot to be thankful for and I want the world to know.
I’m thankful for our friends and family for the love they pour out on us and our son. We have people in our lives who we simply could not live without. They travel hundreds of kilometres to visit us and share special occasions with us. They cook for us. Clean for us. Encourage us. Inspire us. Include us. Text us. Call us. Check in with us. Babysit for us. Pray for us. They show their love to us in so many perfect ways, and for that, we are thankful.
I’m thankful to live in a country that allows us the freedom to pursue the things we are passionate about. I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to start up a blog and that there are people who actually read it. I’m thankful to people who have invested their time in reading it and their talents in supporting it. I’m thankful that I have a husband and family and friends who encourage me to keep going with it, even when it sometimes feels like more work than it’s worth.
I’m thankful for the time and the opportunities I have been given to try and to get involved with new things, meet new people, and see their passions. I love watching my husband get on a stage and speak in front of people. I love seeing my friends and family share their talents through their own blogs, photography, businesses, music, fitness, cooking, and more.
I am thankful for my single friends. I love that I have friends who are not in relationships who still want to spend time with me even though I am married and have a child and can be very, very tired and very, very boring. It means so much to me that these friends make the effort to stay a committed part of my life even though we are in totally different places right now.
I am thankful for my friends and their partners. I love hearing about the adventures that they have together and I am so thankful for their openness and honesty about their trials and triumphs in their marriages and relationships. There is so much value in being real and raw – not just sharing the best parts of our lives, but the hardest ones as well. It’s so encouraging to know that arguments and struggles are a very common part of being married, and that it doesn’t make you a failure if you find yourself going through them from time to time.
I am thankful for my for my friends with kids. I love that so many of my friends are willing to share with us. They share advice. They share their happy moments. They share their frustrations. They share their anxieties about the present and the future. They share their used baby stuff and maternity jeans so I don’t have to go out and buy my own. They share bottles of wine and delicious meals. Sometimes, after said bottles of wine, they even share their secrets.
I am thankful for my parents, who have stood as an incredible example of how to be a parent myself. They taught me about war and peace, crime, and punishment. Just kidding. But they did teach me about how to love and be loved, and how to take responsibility for myself and my actions. They encouraged my dreams and made me push through things that weren’t easy. They laid down rules that may not have made sense to me at the time, but looking back, I know were there to protect and guide me. They gave me so much time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and I still consider all of these people to be an important part of my life today. I’m thankful that Beckett will get to have relationships with these people as well, and now understand what my parents meant all the times they said, “I wish you could have met your great grandma and great grandpa. They would have loved you so much.” I miss my Grandma and Grandpa Patton every day and wish desperately that they could have been here to meet their first great grandson. I’m thankful that Beckett has such a special relationship with his Great Grandma and Grandpa Mihalicz and gets to see them often even though we live many miles apart, thanks to the magic of Facetime.
I’m thankful for the little baby who has come into our lives with a bang and left such a huge mark on my heart. He has taught me how to love sacrificially and unconditionally and returns that same love to me every day, regardless of what I make him for dinner or how many times I check my phone while we play together. He has changed the way that I look at my husband, our parents, and our friends as I watch them in their interactions with him. He makes me laugh about a hundred times a day, even when I’m cleaning pee off of the floor because the ten seconds between removing his diaper and getting into the tub were simply too many to hold it. (As a side note, I don’t necessarily encourage peeing in the tub, but let’s be real – how can you tell if they do?)
I am thankful for the days that are good and the days that are hard. I am thankful that even when I don’t feel like being thankful, I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m thankful for the One who created me and the ones that I love.
I’m thankful for the delicious Thanksgiving dinner that we got to share with some of our favourite friends in the world this weekend when we didn’t make it home to spend it with our families.
I am thankful for you – the person reading this right now. Thank you for investing a few minutes into reading this blog. I know sometimes that reading all the things that people are thankful for can feel a little redundant, but I think, in reality, we just don’t say it enough. So here it is, one more time.
THANK YOU.
xox k
THE ASPIRING SOMETHING 