The MOST THANKFUL Thanksgiving Post
- Oct 9, 2017
- 4 min read
Thanksgiving always seems to show up at the most appropriate time for me; when I'm feeling the most vulnerable, the most contemplative, the most fragile, and ultimately the most thankful.
Leaves are changing, temperature is dropping, Jessica is turning into an emotional, sappy monster...
Must be an October thing.
Every year around this time, I find myself in some kind of pickle or another; wishing something would change, or feeling unsettled, or not knowing what's next, and in all of my rambling and anxiety, I'm forced to stop, and eat some turkey (or a bowl of Lucky Charms - shoutout to my university days), and remind myself that things aren't nearly as rough as I've been making them out to be in my head.
(From our drive to the top of Morfee Mountain - in all of its windy, sunshiny, SNOWY beauty!)
This year, however, things *kinda have* been as rough as I've been making them out to be in my head. Because this year, it hasn't just been in my head - things have been really, legitimately, obvious-to-everyone rough. And it's been exhausting. And it's been a challenge to be patient. And it's been a struggle to stay positive. And it's been really, reeeeeally freaking hard to pretend that I don't just wish I could
c a t c h a f r e a k i n g b r e a k ...
But today is Thanksgiving, and today is the turning point in the year for me. This is the MOST thankful Thanksgiving I've ever had in my entire life, and one that will not be taken for granted, or forgotten any time soon.
Over the last month - and we're *literally* talking FOUR WEEKS HERE people - my life has consisted of:
- abdominal surgery, and all the glorious setbacks that came with trying to push myself back to normality immediately afterwards
- dating the most stupidly wonderful, hilarious, and caring human in the great white north
- purchasing and taking possession of my very own first home, and;
- rolling my car multiple times, landing in a fifteen-foot ditch on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere at 330 in the morning, and spending the better part of 24 hours strapped to a body board, hooked up to multiple IV's at the trauma center, while desperately trying to figure out how my life did not end...
(A little peek at the insane amount of damage I managed to do...)
...so like. I've been pretty busy; trying to navigate the world of real estate, a new relationship, and trying not to die, all at the same time.
And despite all of the insight and experience I have possessed in the last month, I really don't have anything profound to say right now, but what I do want to say is this:
Thanksgiving is really just a day in October when we come together with people we deeply care about, or at least hopefully kinda like, and eat some turkey and then post a picture of our decorated table with a cute caption about being thankful on Instagram.
But the reality is - we need to be thankful always. We need to regularly stop and tell the people in our lives that we desperately need them, and that we love them, and that we are SO INSANELY THANKFUL for them everyday, and not just on a Monday in October.
We need to pause and thank our God, our Mother Earth, our Creator or whichever higher power we cling to, and rest in the abundance that we receive from them.
We need to recognize our blessings, be grateful for our mistakes and our lessons, and we need to be thankful -
A L W A Y S.
The truth is, I do not say 'thank you' enough. Not where it really counts, at least. But if there's anything that this month, this week, and this Thanksgiving has shown me, it's that I am EXTREMELY lucky to be where I am in my life, OUTRAGEOUSLY lucky to be surrounded with the most incredible, selfless, beautiful people, and - without trying to come across as dramatic - actually, totally, completely 100% INCOMPREHENSIBLY lucky to be alive.
So without further ado - THANK YOU TO:
my parents who birthed me, and the siblings that I love more than anything, to my fur-baby who brings me endless entertainment, to Starbucks for their coffee, to the Toyota car company, to the 911 dispatchers and the first-responders, to the ER staff and the trauma team in Mackenzie and in PG, to my roommates who feed me and my colleagues who have supported me in my recoveries, to my friends who never skip a beat in offering to help me in any way they can, whenever they think I might need it, even though they all live far, far away, to the morphine after the initial shock, and the ativan when I was losing it, to the sweetest, sweetest boy who dropped everything and drove 8 hours just to be there, who's still stuck around even after discovering what a mess I am, to the kind families who invite lonely millennials over for dinner on Thanksgiving, to the inventor of the playground swings, and to my God who loves me so, so much, for a reason that I am still unsure of.
And thank YOU for reading this.
Love && stuffing,
Jessica*.
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