I am thankful this year. So thankful. This is the anniversary of topsy-turvy righting itself. A year ago my Mother was hired and we moved to a new life. Started over. Within this last year we have worked our asses off to hang tight to stability. We have a roof over our head, we both have employment, we have food, we have a safe car, we have health, we have this amazing two year old that changes every day.
It is hard to read the news about unemployment rates. Hard to imagine our life if things had not changed. Approximately 9% of the nation is unemployed right now. And I hate to be blunt, but unless you are the primary earner for your family and have been unemployed for an extended period you probably don’t fully comprehend the horror of the situation.
It goes beyond a paycheck. It’s your self-worth. It’s your ability to wake up in the morning and start all over again. It’s wrestling with a bear called Hope every day and rarely winning. I imagine families preparing for a holiday now – what will it be like around the table when others talk about work? Is there even a table to come to for a meal?
If you know someone in your circle that is in the 9% right now I urge you to reach out to them this week. Also? Don’t bring up work. Reach out with conversation about anything but the very thing that has been consuming every cell in their body for months. Ask if they have a place to go to on Thanksgiving. If you are inviting them into your home allow them to bring something to the table.
It’s these touchstones of normalcy that help.
My family moved to Maryland a few days before Thanksgiving in 2009. We were in total shock about life. A friend invited us to their table for Thanksgiving and it was so kind of them. We took a day off from our worries. We sat around the table with wonderful food and uplifting conversation and for the night we felt normal. It was one of the most generous moments of friendship I have ever known.
Do you have room at your table? Can you make room? Is there someone who needs a night of normal in your life?
The List of People and things and moments that I am thankful for this year:
(in no order)
• My Mother, my son
• Paz and her family
• LJ and her family
• The Schlubs
• Alissa
• my son’s Godparents
• the city of Philadelphia
• Cecily and her family
• BlogHer and all of the opportunities they have given me
• Everyone at AboutOne
• Everyone at Aiming Low
• Hobbs coffee shop
• my son’s amazing school
• my friends – all of them
• enthusiasm for learning
• social groups that have taught me so much
• wifi, coffee, peppermint
• group chat on imessage
• awakening of daydreams
And it goes without saying that I am thankful for all of you. I don’t thank you enough.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Finally. After 7 years, I’m thankful for sitting around the table and mom and dad’s as a single woman. By choice. Not because he’d rather be at the deer lease.
Might sound silly to some, but oh well. It took me several years to get to this point…and it’s a good point to be at.
You made me think back. Every Thanksgiving for the last 5 or so years, there has been a new face or two at our table. Sometimes last minute and not really planned. Which is totally ok.
And we’ll have some new faces there this year. Kinda unplanned.
Great read…thank you.
Hope your holiday is as fabulous as you are. Enjoy it. =)
I hope all your holidays get better every year!
I’ve always hosted thanksgiving, being the table for those who need somewhere to go, “hacnasat orchim,” welcomig the stranger. Now, in a new city, we are going to someone else’s table, and I’m grateful.
I’m thankful for you this year.
It is not Thanksgiving here — but dh & I will be having dinner that night with my cousin, who just moved to this city in the last year, & to the next suburb over from ours this summer. It’s his daughter’s 5th birthday & his mom (my aunt) is visiting. I am hugely tickled that they have asked us to share this occasion with them. I’ve lived 26 years around dh’s relatives & while they are wonderful people, it’s so nice to have someone from my own family finally living closer than a 12 or 35-hour drive away. (That it’s a cousin I actually like is a bonus, lol.) Have a wonderful celebration.
I remember the joy of the job news last year and was so grateful to share it with you. It has been a blessing to watch you grow and thrive in philly. It brings me great joy.
Love this post. It just reminded me that I need to make my thankfulness list for myself.
this just put a big smile on my face
What a blessing to be able to live through hard times. It makes us appreciate the good times even more. Whenever I see you, that’s what stands out to me. You really seem to BE in the good time, appreciating the good moment. Thank you for that lesson!
{ 1 trackback }