Gratitude

It is Thanksgiving morning. We are having my dad and step mom over for lunch. The four of us adults, my step brothers daughter and my son. Later this afternoon, after the turkey and stuffing and casseroles, my husbands family will stop by for dessert and a visit. This is a new way to spend this day for us. All of my life, Thanksgiving has been spent with my mom and her side of the family. But since getting married and having a child, we no longer see her on this day. It's not the Thanksgiving of my childhood anymore anyway. My cousin has taken the reigns and hosts the day at his home, with my cousin-in-law's family and our family, and there's booze and football and a bounce house for the kids and when I hear about it later, it always sounds like they had a good time. But it's not the Thanksgiving of my childhood so I don't feel like I'm missing something in a nostalgic sort of way. I hope that this is our new tradition. Thanksgiving here, in my home, with family - whatever family wants to show up. I like not being in the car for big portions of the day. It's nice to be here, in my home, cooking my favorite foods and relaxing with a normal amount of people. I do wish my sister lived here, so that we could visit and cook and chat about goings on. My sister and I have been talking (texting) a lot this last week. After the Miles 4 Meredith 5k race last weekend, we found out that a very good friend of my sisters was in a fatal car accident. Katy was killed, her daughter is still in ICU, in a medically induced coma, and her husband and son suffered only minor physical injuries. But my God. Steve has lost his wife, his 12 year old daughter is in a coma and I can't even imagine how he is managing. How he moves from one moment to the next. My sister and I have talked this week about the tasks that are in front of Steve, and how we can not even wrap our brains around what that road looks like. My sister has her own grief too. This was a good friend. The kind where they could not talk for months and then pick up right where they left off, without missing a beat. They were in the beginning stages of planning a ski trip with their famlies. And now, she's gone. And nothing will ever be the same. It has made me feel grateful for what is in my life. Grateful that I wake up every morning to a snoring husband, a child who wakes up early telling me "I POOP!" when in fact, he did not poop, he just likes to say that. I have a job to complain about, parents who make me nuts sometimes. But I have those things. I am here. They are here. We are here. And for that, I am grateful.