Thanksgiving Thoughts - Some Sad, Some Simple, All Good

If I allow it to be, this could be a sad day for me. This year, I lost the only person who was close enough to feel like my own child. I never was able to “carry” past 8 weeks. Frank was like a son to me. When he died suddenly on February 1 of a massive heart attack, in front of my eyes, I could have allowed it to put me into a tailspin.

Instead, it put me into a whirlpool of financial debt because of the income loss. That debt kept me going, gave me a purpose, a goal. Isn’t it odd how something bad can bring about good?

I miss so many people this Thanksgiving - my own dad, my beloved mom (the best in the world), my sweet little sister, my treasured and dear friend Jane, and now Frank. 

I think also of friends of mine who suffer this day - one fellow’s wife just walked out on him on Friday. He and the two doggies are alone and he is disabled. He is having a hard time of this.

There is illness in several homes that I know of. Weather batters others. Loss of loved ones stills the hearts of even more of my friends.

But in the midst all of this, I am alive. I have friends. I have projects (charity crafting, volunteer newsletter work, activity in a state organization, my online craft store) and my faith to help me take my mind off the dark side.

Troubles help give us purpose. Whether they are financial, medical or emotional, we are challenged to rise above them.

The whole thing about life is this: it must be lived. Those who have gone before us would NOT want us to wither and shrivel in sorrow. We all have wonderful memories of these people. If we can recall those memories, we are blessed indeed.