Amazing Thanksgiving

This year’s Thanksgiving was just phenomenal.

For starters, it was the first day since Oct. 30^th that I had off, so even that alone was awesome! It’s hard sometimes being so far away from my family back home, and Thanksgiving break is so short (and always so busy with finals immediately after) that I’ve never flown back home for this particular holiday. However, now with my sister here, it’s amazing to have part of my family near me. She and I are very close as sisters and as friends, and we’re now able to do a lot of things that we used to do before we moved away for college: watching movies, decorating for the holidays, shopping, going to parties, going on runs. In fact, I think this is the most time we’ve spent together since we were both in high school and living under the same roof.

So we started off Thanksgiving by running the Turkey Trot 5-miler together. The field was 17,000 and it was very muggy, but so much fun! Then we came back to my place, had a post-race snack while watching the last 30 minutes of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the beginning of the Dog Show, and then we split to spend lunch/dinner with our boyfriends and separate friends. Dinner was absolutely delicious and for the first time I can remember I actually fell asleep after eating, with the Saints-Cowboys game broadcasting in the background. Then we met back up to go to the Longhorns-A&M game together and, frozen, stood in line for some Starbuck’s coffee for about an hour while girl-talking. Sadly, the Longhorns lost, but we braved the windy cold to go back to chill with friends, and then part ways again. I stayed up until 3 am with my boyfriend watching some insane movie (The Cube?), and then this morning I allowed myself, for the first time in a month, to sleep in as late as my body would let me (which was about 12:30 p.m.). Total. Bliss. :-)

And in honor of Thanksgiving, I’d like to take a moment and reflect on my blessings over this past year.

I’m grateful for my family, whom I love dearly, and for my very closest friends, who are amazing and whom I consider to be my “second” family.

I’m grateful that my cousin is cancer-free, and that she is healthy and doing well.

I’m grateful that I live in a setting of peace, that despite the crime we see occasionally, we are not caught in a major world war.

I’m grateful for the freedom I have to express my politics, my religion, and my beliefs. I’m grateful I live in a city where I feel like I fit in, and in a climate that is sunny almost every day and makes me smile even when I’m feeling kinda low.

I’m grateful that I’m finally learning the ropes of this graduate program, and that I feel like I’ve finally found my calling. I’m grateful that my passion for this as a career is still blooming, and that I’ve had the opportunity this semester to train with some of the best clinical supervisors I could ask to be placed with.

I’m grateful for finding love in so many places: with a lover, with my friends, and with strangers who share a common mind.

I’m grateful for my own health, and the recently renewed ardor that I have for running. I’m grateful I’ve been able to find healthy ways to channel any stressful energy, and that my sister and I both love running and now have yet another way for us to bond and reconnect.

I’m grateful I was able to see my family so much this year. The traveling sometimes was tiring, but it was always worth spending time with my family, whom I constantly wish lived closer to Austin.

I’m grateful that the semester is almost over….only a few more projects and sessions until I can relax and start baking again, reading for fun again, painting again, doing yoga, and having free time to spend with the people I love.

I’m grateful for these, and all of the other blessings that God has given me.

Happy Thanksgiving! :-)