Thanksgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving 2008 is in the books now; remnants of pumpkin pie and turkey left in tins and platters, and both hearts and stomachs filled to the brim.

We spent the day at my sister's house celebrating with family and friends, taking our traditional family photos and sharing laughs with those close at heart.

I look around me at the people I call family - the true blessings I've been given - and I'm humbled at what I have. Though I don't have a perfect life, it's close. I see a wealth in smiles on young faces and new babies to love; in those I have just met....and those I have loved forever.

In the late afternoon we spent time at my mom and dad's house, coming down from the busyness and slowing to a state of peaceful contentment. When I'm there I can wrap myself in a cloak of memories and feel safe in the presence of the two people I admire and respect more than anyone else I know.

It is this coming "home" that makes me feel grounded. It fills me up so I can come back to conquer the dragons that await here - the dragons that seem much smaller once I return.

I am thankful for the riches I hold everyday when I open my eyes to this world: my husband and children who, in all their imperfections, love me in all of mine. And I'm grateful that with all of our little idiosyncrasies, we match perfectly.

And though this Thanksgiving is indeed, now history, it's a new chapter in a book I will go to again and again, read often and glean much from what has been written.

I am truly blessed.