It's Thanksgiving Monday and I am sitting in my favourite chair in our library, enjoying a pumpkin spice smoothie, thinking about the day ahead and all I have to be grateful for.
Usually my husband is gone for most of Thanksgiving, riding the Terra Nova up in Cowichan. It's a cross-country dirt bike race that finishes with a turkey dinner put on my some of the riders' families. The riders actually call it the "Aqua Nova" because torrential rains notoriously take over the event.
Usually, my birthday falls on Thanksgiving weekend as well, as I was born on a Thanksgiving Sunday. As you can imagine, between turkey dinners with our family, the race Tim participates in, the typically horrid weather and my birthday, this weekend each year is often a little too busy. My birthday always feels like an afterthought and I end up cooking a meal everyone expects, not because I want to but because I feel I should. Sometimes I feel myself a little too immersed in the chaos of it to think much about what I am thankful for. I do try to remain focused on gratitude regardless of the day or month...but ironically, Thanksgiving has been a challenge for me in recent years.
This October is different. The Terra Nova was postponed, due to dry weather. Translation - the longest Indian Summer in recent history. My birthday somehow edged its way to next weekend, and so here we are, home for a glorious, clear family weekend with a low-pressure turkey dinner already done and a new lawn to play on. We had only two guests this year, my Dad and Step-Mum, and the meal was simple and delicious. Yesterday, we took the kids out to our favourite section of The Galloping Goose in Methcosin with their bikes. While I did a 45 minute run, the boys rode with Tim. We had a lovely country drive there and back, ate leftovers for lunch, and played in our newly sodded yard in the afternoon sunshine.
Next weekend I will head to the big city to see my Mum and sister and celebrate my birthday. This weekend I feel grateful for so much, because I have had time to think about it without the household mania we are typically dealing with. My boys are growing up in leaps and bounds. It hasn't been a seamless transition for them into their new schools...my headstrong Griffin in particular is on a steep learning curve in regard to listening and following routines consistently. Noah has his first cold of the season. But they are happy and full of stories and they're learning so much, so fast. The most remarkable thing I've witnessed with them lately is a huge increase in their expression of gratitude. They are taking the time to really genuinely thank me for the things I do. It fills me up with happy.
Usually my husband is gone for most of Thanksgiving, riding the Terra Nova up in Cowichan. It's a cross-country dirt bike race that finishes with a turkey dinner put on my some of the riders' families. The riders actually call it the "Aqua Nova" because torrential rains notoriously take over the event.
Usually, my birthday falls on Thanksgiving weekend as well, as I was born on a Thanksgiving Sunday. As you can imagine, between turkey dinners with our family, the race Tim participates in, the typically horrid weather and my birthday, this weekend each year is often a little too busy. My birthday always feels like an afterthought and I end up cooking a meal everyone expects, not because I want to but because I feel I should. Sometimes I feel myself a little too immersed in the chaos of it to think much about what I am thankful for. I do try to remain focused on gratitude regardless of the day or month...but ironically, Thanksgiving has been a challenge for me in recent years.
This October is different. The Terra Nova was postponed, due to dry weather. Translation - the longest Indian Summer in recent history. My birthday somehow edged its way to next weekend, and so here we are, home for a glorious, clear family weekend with a low-pressure turkey dinner already done and a new lawn to play on. We had only two guests this year, my Dad and Step-Mum, and the meal was simple and delicious. Yesterday, we took the kids out to our favourite section of The Galloping Goose in Methcosin with their bikes. While I did a 45 minute run, the boys rode with Tim. We had a lovely country drive there and back, ate leftovers for lunch, and played in our newly sodded yard in the afternoon sunshine.
Next weekend I will head to the big city to see my Mum and sister and celebrate my birthday. This weekend I feel grateful for so much, because I have had time to think about it without the household mania we are typically dealing with. My boys are growing up in leaps and bounds. It hasn't been a seamless transition for them into their new schools...my headstrong Griffin in particular is on a steep learning curve in regard to listening and following routines consistently. Noah has his first cold of the season. But they are happy and full of stories and they're learning so much, so fast. The most remarkable thing I've witnessed with them lately is a huge increase in their expression of gratitude. They are taking the time to really genuinely thank me for the things I do. It fills me up with happy.
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| Six o'clock in the morning: mist on the lake |
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