Happy holy sh*t this is my 16th Thanksgiving on this blog (!)

(Jeff Foxworthy: “That’s dedication right there.  I don’t care who you are”.  Or that I have no life.  I  spare myself a lot of headache by being boring.) 😉

This is probably the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in a while.  Last year’s was OK, but a bit too solemn; forgive me – I was still scrambling to digest what happened.

The year before that, I remember being locked into a dead-heat battle with the universe, hollering at the apartment ceiling for the constant barrage of getting sh!t on for a year.

The year before that, I didn’t write anything; I was busy sitting around the table with my 2 best friends, googling the FBI criteria for Factor 1 psychopathy, realizing that my then-husband nailed every one of them.

My last enjoyable Thanksgiving was at my best friend’s house, with my now-companion and I putting on an open-mic-style performance of some of our favorite songs, him providing the musical background on his guitar and each of us singing.

That was 2019.  It’s time for another good one.  Something fun.

And I do believe this year may deliver!  We’ll be going over to the same best friend’s house, her boyfriend bringing the traditional textbook Thanksgiving fare, and my companion and I bringing some authentic Vietnamese pho as a tantalizing non-traditional alternative.

No matter where my life is at (actively hollering at the universe or no), I’ve always had multiple reasons to be thankful.  Even last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.  This year has taken the foundation of strength I’d been so grateful for and the survival it had granted me (also grateful for that), and builds on it, like icing on a cake.

I’m grateful now not just for a roof over my head and the basic rung of Maslow’s ladder of needs being met, but for it having become a place of peace and comfort and sanctuary.

I’m grateful now not just for my companion, but for how our bond has grown and deepened and evolved during this past year.  I’m grateful for him and the comfort and companionship and love that he brings.

I’m grateful these days not just for the practice that got off the ground, but also for the fact that it stayed there, continuing to grow and take healthier shape, becoming fortified with awesome patients and cutting-edge information.  I’m also grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and the tests I’ve withstood (and hopefully passed).

I’m grateful not just for capacity to heal and process last year and the healing and processing that had taken place by then, but now for the ability to laugh again and make jokes and listen to music again.  Last year I reminded myself that there was life before Mr Kitty and there’ll be life after him, too; this year, I can say that there is life after.

I’m grateful for not just recovering from the losses and the fact that additional losses have stopped happening, but that I’m starting to gain.  Some things the universe had taken away from me are now coming back to me.  The universe taketh away, but it giveth again, too.

I’m grateful for the lack of guilt or obligation or urgency I used to feel whenever a holiday weekend came up and I couldn’t work or get any business done, and the permission I’ve given myself to downshift and take the time to rest and…have fun.

I’m grateful for the usual, like family and friends.  I’m grateful for my kitties, one of whom is a newly-minted lap-cat, having discovered the virtues of a warm lap to sit and get petted on.  I’m grateful for the funny things they do and my ability to laugh at them.

I’m grateful for the answers I’ve received where my health is concerned.  So many former x-files have been demystified, their mysteries solved.  And I’m taking steps to address them (hearing loss, neurological issues, iron anemia, brain fog, and histamine were found to be autoimmune, gluten, uterine fibroids, and mold).  I really feel I’m onto something this time, with no confounding factors–I hope, of course; never count your chickens and all that.  But I have a shot at true healing that I’m pretty sure I’ve never had before.

I’m extremely grateful that I have my mental health.  Maybe it’s because I don’t watch the news or get on social media, both of which I’m also grateful not to be tethered to.  I’m extremely grateful that I’m not lonely or mentally/personality disordered.  I’m grateful that I can appreciate the beauty and good things in life again.  I’m grateful that I can let difficult people or situations roll off.  I’m grateful that I can let loose and have fun and pursue my goals and life purpose.

Tomorrow will be a blast, I’m sure.  All of us will probably be in good spirits, as there are good things happening in all of our lives.  We have much hope for the future and much to look forward to.  The food will be amazing, we already know that lol.  With any luck, technology will be on our side and we’ll successfully pull off the home karaoke we’ve planned.  I’ll probably belt out my “Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains (yes, I’m the 46-year-old girl who does boy songs from the ’90s).  We’ll have lots of laughs and time will go by too fast, and before we know it, it’ll become another memory, another good story to tell, one that brings smiles for years to come.

So yeah, I’m grateful for the place to go to celebrate and the people I’ll be doing it with ❤

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