This year Thanksgiving was spent with old family and new. It’s one of the beautiful things that happens when parents marry. Not only did we get to celebrate with brothers, sisters, and nephews we’ve celebrated with year after year, but we also got to hang out, get to know, and enjoy new family. We’ve started new traditions. And in this, we are very lucky. For this, I am very thankful.
It’s been a full year. Not just for us, which it seems always to be, but also for my mom, who has had a year of finding love, entering a new family, and joining together two lives and two households that were very full, even before they met. I have to say, that the next best thing to my finding Karen and this love I am amazed by and grateful for every day, is my mom finding love, being in love, and being so very happy.
If you’ve read this blog at all over time, you know what deep affection and admiration I have for my mom. As I’ve said before, growing up, she’s been the best person I’ve known, and she continues to be. How lucky it is I get to say that about the person who brought me into the world and showed me how to navigate it. I find it difficult to fully articulate the pride I feel in being her kid, the honor it’s been and continues to be. But, all that said, sort of, and all that aside, she’s a great human being, one who’s given so much of who she is to the lives of the people around her. She is a genuine soul. Truly herself with everyone lucky enough to meet her. It’s rare, as she is. And knowing she’s so happy, knowing she’s met this wonderful man with a terrific family of his own, knowing she’s making a wonderful, new, adventure of a life with him, it’s enough to make me cry with happiness for her. He, and his family, have been a blessing for her. She’s so enjoyed meeting them, being around them, falling in love with them, and bringing all of us together.
Life is a wondrous thing, isn’t it? Tragedy and deep sorrow one moment, happiness, and the glow of beginnings the next. It’s a ride. And this Thanksgiving, besides the great food, and the outstanding family, I’m thankful for that. For the ride, the adventure, and the knowledge that I’m paying attention to it. As my Mom, through example, has always taught me. Every single day… life is beautiful.
