Thanksgiving Gratitude
With warm wishes for a happy Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a few of my “gratitudes” this year…
HEALTH! Three years ago today was my one-day break in the middle of a seven-week radiation treatment for breast cancer. I will never again take good health for granted! I’m also grateful for all the poignant life lessons that cancer taught me, which I’m trying not to forget as the diagnosis and fear of the unknown seems more distant.
FAMILY. Mine, like many, does not look like the traditional Norman Rockwell scene. (We’re celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday, because our four kids are with their other parents today.) But this second marriage and blended family is home now – as complicated as the dynamics can be at times – and I’m grateful for the fleeting days when we can all be together and share a meal. I also treasure my close ties to parents and sibs and adorable nieces and nephews in distant parts of the country, and I’m thankful I can hop on a plane to see them from time to time. I know it’s a privilege many in the world don’t have.
TEENAGERS. Yes, teenagers! They are weird and funny and emotional, and they are keeping us on our toes. It’s a little unfathomable to watch these kids, who have felt like a part of us for all these years, turn into their own self-directed (not so) little adults. Watching them leave home and choose their own paths, one by one, is thrilling and devastating. I’m grasping every moment as best I can!
CLIENTS. I love my work as a divorce lawyer. Every day my clients inspire me with their strength in the face of big life changes, often not chosen. I have seen clients tap into reserves of courage they didn’t know they had, while working through divorce, illness, financial uncertainty, even the death of loved ones. Their trust in me to provide some guidance and support humbles me every day, and without them my life would not be the same.
COMMUNITY. When I moved to Bainbridge Island 14 years ago and began forming connections with the web of big-hearted welcoming people here, I felt like I’d found home for the first time. Few people get to see the tide ebb and flow, look for sun breaks over Mount Rainier, or see killer whales on the morning commute. But it’s actually the people that make this corner of the world precious to me. There’s no place like home.
Sending love and warmth and gratitude to all on this Thanksgiving.