Let's Give Thanks...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It's always at this time of year that we sit and reflect on all we have to be thankful for. No matter where I spend Thanksgiving I have always tried to make it a tradition to go around the table and have everyone reflect on what they are grateful for. 

Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday. I loved gathering with my family and enjoying a great meal. Often we would all travel home and gather at my grandmothers house and have dinner. We all lived about three to four hours away from home in different areas of Pennsylvania. At the end of the meal my mom and I would clean up the dishes and load up the leftovers in my grams old Country Crock bowls she would save. We would all have lots to take home with us. 

Two years ago in 2019 Thanksgiving changed for me. I spent that day alone in a grocery store parking lot waiting for my brother and his family to finish up their festivities so we could travel home to prepare to say our final goodbyes to our grandmother. The precious woman who had made every one of our holidays so memorable and so meaningful had gone home to Heaven just two days prior. 

As I was in prayer this morning I was thanking God for all He has done for me. I was thinking about my grandmother and how God placed me in her care and even though I didn't appreciate it at the time He knew what was best for me. You see, my mother was very young, practically a child still herself when she had me. She lived at home with her parents, and they ended up taking custody of my brother and I. My grandfather died when I was seven and since my grandmother was blind I was the oldest person in the house who could see. I became my grandmother's eyes for her. 

She never allowed her disability to hinder her, she was an amazing woman who did many things most blind people didn't. She cooked, cleaned, crocheted, did everything except drive pretty much. My brother and I never had the best of material possessions, however, we never lacked anything, especially attention or unconditional love. My grandmother was overprotective of me. I believe it's because she didn't want me to follow down the same path as my mother and end up with a great grandchild too early. I resented her at times for this but as an adult I look back and realize just how blessed I have been. 

It's all about our perspective. We can choose to look at the situation and things surrounding us in a negative way or we can see the blessing in them. Even though my Thanksgiving now has a heavy memory that comes with it, I am thankful I will see my grandmother again one day. I'm thankful for my grandmother's sacrifice, her commitment, her unconditional love for me, and the Spirit of God that lived in her that gave her the courage and the guidance to raise me into the amazing woman I have become today. 

If you woke up today, you are blessed! Even though you may spend the day alone, you're still alive. Even though you may have next to nothing, you still have something! There are many out there going through something much worse than you are. 

I encourage you to look for the blessings in your life and take a moment to thank God for all He has done for you!

Happy Thanksgiving and may God bless you!

Much love, 

Holly W <3