Reflecting on the blessings in life.
This Thanksgiving, Barton and I spent the day with my family in Atlanta. After having such an eventful week in Hatteras, I was terribly behind in work, yet I knew it was important to be with family, so with house in near tatters and the computer practically still attached, we drove on treacherous roads, past ten accidents on 85 (no, never a dull moment). We had a great day of feasting with family, and it was my cousin’s 21st birthday!
I have not always been so joyous about the holidays. After my mother passed away, I spent several years trying to avoid and escape the holiday season at home. Yet as the year has passed on, I have realized how important those connections with family are.
This year, it’s been such a joy to get to know our neighbors and those in our community around us. One day this fall I borrowed a neighbor’s van to pick up some bookshelves our mentor from our writing group was selling. While moving bookshelves out, we had a chance to chat about family and work, and it was great to get to know them better. Dropping my neighbor’s van off, I helped her move the heavy seats back in, something she had put off since it was a two-person job.
I am reminded about how important those community relationships are when I recently had to leave to teach an evening writing workshop and Barton had walked home in a cold downpour. Barton walked to a neighbor’s house, who helped him dry off.
Yesterday, I found out my grandmother passed away. On one hand, I am not sad because she had suffered from Alzheimer’s for many years. On the other, she was my last grandparent to pass away, and I am saddened by a generation now gone by. When Barton moved to Alabama, my grandmother patted Barton’s beard and smiled, and even the last time I saw her, our eyes connected.
This holiday season, I am thankful for all of the blessings in our lives, our family, our neighbors, our community, and I look forward to the adventures to come.
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