I spent this holiday with my dad at the nursing home. It was a quiet day. He slept a lot and we watched a couple of Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. I cleaned out his closet and his dresser and I decorated his Christmas tree while he was asleep. We ate a delicious turkey dinner for lunch in the dining room with the other residents. And we even played around on SnapChat for a bit. It was a good day.
It was a good day but it looked nothing like the Thanksgivings I remember from the past. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and always will be mainly because of the good food! Turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie all just taste better on the fourth Thursday in November than any other time of the year for reasons I don’t even understand. More importantly it’s always been my favorite holiday because it is a day devoted to just enjoying the company of loved ones. But the last 14 years have been different for me.
Since my mom has been gone this day has changed from a day of a dozen people sitting around a gigantic oak table having to stand up to pass the food because the table was so big to a day where I just show up and the wonderful ladies who cook at the nursing home set plates of amazing food in front of my dad and me. I don’t have to cook. I don’t have to clean up. All I have to do is show up and eat and enjoy my dad’s company. Yes, it is different and not how I wish things were but we’ve adjusted as life has changed.
Thank you to my friends who invited me to your family get togethers. 🙂 I love you all and I will take you up on it one day I am sure. For now I am just thankful for one more year with my dad…even though it’s not the same. When you are young, you think things will stay the same forever. You can’t even comprehend things being different. But divorce happens. People die. People move away. People stop talking. Things happen that you can’t even prepare for because you have no idea what the future holds.
Trust that God does though and enjoy every moment of the right now…because the right now is what we need to be thankful for most.
Blessings,
Stacey ~ iamalive