Giving Thanks 2020

Writ­ten on Thanks­giv­ing Day and pub­lished after­wards due to me get­ting dis­tract­ed by my Gantt chart time­line for cook­ing Thanks­giv­ing din­ner. Before you laugh, it worked like a charm!

I think I can safe­ly say this year has been awful for pret­ty much every­one for one rea­son or another.

It’s incred­i­bly easy to talk about all the things gone wrong, or dis­cuss all the bad things in life. But today is Thanks­giv­ing Day, and no mat­ter the ori­gins of the day, I’m going to take this chance to talk about all the things I’m grate­ful for this year.

I’m grate­ful for.…. my health. I haven’t got­ten sick this year for the first time in a long time. I enjoy my body usu­al­ly work­ing like it should (minus a dodgy hip and a brain that some­times falls prey to a migraine). I’m in decent shape for some­one who does­n’t work out much and am not depen­dent on any med­ica­tions to live a nor­mal life.

I’m grate­ful for.…. my career. Things were rocky the last few years, but those rocky stretch­es have real­ly put a good work­ing envi­ron­ment into per­spec­tive. I have a great man­ag­er, won­der­ful cowork­ers, and a mean­ing­ful mis­sion to sup­port. I feel appre­ci­at­ed and get chal­lenged to grow with new oppor­tu­ni­ties. The peo­ple above me want to see me suc­ceed in my career. My com­pa­ny sees us as peo­ple first and employ­ees sec­ond, and have made that abun­dant­ly clear with their actions in this year of the plague.

I’m grate­ful for.…. a sta­ble hous­ing sit­u­a­tion. This year is the first year I haven’t changed address­es in 4 years. Mov­ing 8 times in the last 4 years is both low-key stress­ful and super stress­ing. Not to men­tion expen­sive. I’ve made con­nec­tions with my neigh­bors, real­ly explored my new neigh­bor­hood, and found favorite places to patron­ize (not as much as I’d like due to Covid but I did have a 4‑month head­start). I haven’t had to put my things in box­es and have been able to enjoy my belong­ings in ways that I haven’t been able to in years past.

I’m grate­ful for.…. being back in the Mid­west. I felt a sense of unease at being so far away from my not-get­ting-any-younger par­ents and old­er rel­a­tives. I was sad I missed some big mile­stones as my nib­lings have got­ten old­er. But now I am back and able to go vis­it them in a day trip. I am close if some­thing hap­pens (like I was 4 years ago when my nephew was born on Thanks­giv­ing Day!). When the pan­dem­ic is over, they’ll be able to vis­it me and we’ll be able to take advan­tage of all the fun things St. Louis has to offer. As a neigh­bor said, liv­ing in St Louis is easy. The cost of liv­ing is low, it’s easy to get around town, and there are a lot of free and cheap things to do. I can’t say the same thing about liv­ing any­where near a big city on the East Coast.

I’m grate­ful for.… my cat. He has been a rock to lean on this year as I spent more time than ever at home. He keeps me enter­tained and smil­ing on days when there isn’t much to smile about. He com­forts me when I get low and purrs away my stress. He’s also beau­ti­ful and makes oth­er peo­ple feel bet­ter with his pictures.

I’m grate­ful for.…. my friends. Even if I can’t see any­one in per­son this year, tex­ting, call­ing, and video chats have helped the time go by eas­i­er. They offer sup­port and help me feel less alone in this big world.

And final­ly.…. I’m grate­ful for my won­der­ful boyfriend. We’ve been able to weath­er this weird year togeth­er. Noth­ing like a pan­dem­ic to make or break a new rela­tion­ship! I’m for­tu­nate we found each oth­er before the pan­dem­ic start­ed. He’s opened my eyes to many things I would’ve nor­mal­ly passed over and is incred­i­bly thought­ful and wise.…. not to men­tion dev­as­tat­ing­ly hand­some, too! I’ve spent a lot of years alone or with part­ners who weren’t a good fit long term. All those expe­ri­ences led me to real­ize just how pre­cious he is to me and I’m very thank­ful our paths crossed the way they did.

May your day be filled with warmth and laugh­ter, tasty food, and peace. Hap­py Thanks­giv­ing 2020, everyone!

Thanks for read­ing! What are you grate­ful for, this year?