Paving The Way to Grateful ... (version two) GET OVER IT!!

My little Spaghetti Face Noah!

For the last few years Noah's birthday has been the official "kickoff" for the holiday season around here.  He was actually born on Thanksgiving day 5 years ago, and we've been having his little birthday party just before Thanksgiving ever since.  I love the way it works out!  I love kicking off the holidays with a "We love you Noah" party!  THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!!

So this past year I have tried to maintain a Thanksgiving attitude all year long.  It has made a difference in my life.  It doesn't mean that I don't have a normal up and down sort of life.. it just means that I'm much quicker to look for the silver linings, the good things, the happy parts of any situation that I find myself in, and I have to tell you, it's become life changing for me.  I should mention that gratitude isn't usually my first mental response to crappy things that happen... I still kick and scream (even if only mentally) I still get angry sometimes, and I still have normal human reactions.  But this year I've learned that the search for positive morsels in all of the not so positive happenings has come about much faster.  It's almost as if my mind automatically flips a switch at some point because it prefers to be in that state of gratitude rather than the state of unhappiness that came first.  It's liberating, and amazing, and ranks right up there on my biggest blessings list.

My family is and probably will always be number one on my list of things for which I am most thankful.
My mom and dad have given so much of themselves, so much of their time, energy, money, prayers, hope, faith, and love that it would simply take an entire book to list all of the ways that they have been a blessing to me in the past year.  And in thinking about my family, I also got to thinking about how just recently I've been subjected to listening to a few folks who do NOT appreciate their family.  And now I must ask... What is wrong with you?

It would be one thing if your parents or other family members abused you in any way shape or form at any time during your life.  I could understand if your parents or family members disowned you for whatever reason, or just plain didn't want anything to do you with you or yours.  If they treated you like the dirt under their feet, or disappeared when you came to the door.. there would be reasons to want to avoid them during the holidays.  But I know better.  I do.  It's time to get over yourself people.  It's time to GROW UP, get over your issues with the past, and realize that life is too damned short to pretend that little things are bigger than they really are.

Yes, I get it.  Life is unfair. Family can piss us off to no end.  They do things that we don't agree with, they say things that rub us the wrong way. But when it boils down to the bottom, family is everything.  Family, in the end is all you really have.  "Things" don't matter when its all said and done.  "Words" are just words. Happiness has absolutely nothing to do with what you have, and everything to do with how you chose to look at life.

My wish for everyone I love is that they are able to see their life for what it really is.  I hope that you can set aside your anger, stubbornness and hurt feelings and realize that today is all we have.  Waking up one morning and realizing that you're sorry and now it's too late doesn't have to happen.  Trust me on this.  Realizing that nothing will ever be the same because your family member or loved one is gone will happen to all of us sooner or later, and if you have to live with the horror of having been too stubborn to share every moment of loving time with them it may well be a hell that you could have avoided.  It's not a pleasant thing to think about now, but living with it later... will it be worth it?  For some, it will be.  I realize this.  But for others it just won't.  If you have to think about it, you probably fall into that last category.  It won't be worth it! 

None of this means that you have to spend the day with your family, none of it means that you have to change your life.. it just means that you ought to think about the things that irritate you, or piss you off and ask yourself if its really that important.  Ask yourself if it would matter if tomorrow you woke up and didn't have parents or a family to be mad at anymore.  Ask yourself if you would be okay with that.  If so, then carry on.  If not.. let it go.  That's all.  Let. It. Go.  It really is that easy.. don't kid yourself into thinking it's not. 

  I am thankful for the chaos and craziness that is my life.  I am thankful for a year full of tough decisions, and the good things that came about even after lots of tears and pain.  I am thankful for the harsh lessons that taught me to look beyond myself.  I am thankful for my beautiful, thoughtful and respectful sons, and their children.  I am thankful that I'm a "memaw!"   I am thankful for the way I have learned to look at my life!  
What are you thankful for today?  What are you thankful for this year?  Let me hear about it!!  I will rejoice and be thankful with you!  I love you my friends, and my family!  I am thankful for YOU!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!