Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving day, 2011, and while this day is supposed to be about giving thanks for what you have in your life, I'm afraid it reminds me most about what I've lost, my parents. Part of that is Thanksgiving in my mind is about families getting together, and with my family, that always meant Thanksgiving at my parents house, and then later at my house when my parents lived with me. I miss my dad, who would be working all day in the kitchen preparing treats for everyone, while my mom would make sure everyone's tea cup was full and getting lots of food to eat. So while I do give thanks for what I have, there's a little tug at the bottom of my heart for what's not there.

This year I have a lot to be thankful for. While the last couple of years have been scary for many families due to the recession, including our own, this was the first year, I can actually be thankful we're doing a little better than previous years. We continue to be employed, we've been able to cut back on some of our fixed costs, so financially we're in a lot better shape. Lauren is healthy and doing well in school, and we have all our needs taken care of.

And this year, I caved in and treated myself to a new minivan. If you remember, our old minivan was a very basic model Chevy from 2004. While it was great for hauling and getting the job done, it's now found a new home, in a family where it's much needed and I'm sure will be a great asset for them. For us, we went a little upscale and bought a VW Routan minivan. It's got a lot really neat features the old minivan didn't have, like power sliding doors, temperature gauge, compass, built-in garage door opener, rear seats that fold away into the car, integrated DVD system with a 6 disk DVD changer, built-in sun shades and lots of other goodies. Lauren loves the new car, and says it reminds her of an airplane with all the over head compartments.

So I'm thankful, that we were able to get the new minivan, a small luxury given how we've been trying to cut back on everything else.

I'm thankful for my family who continues to be there whenever I need them, and thankful for friends, although I don't spend enough time keeping up with them. So if I haven't reached out to you lately, please don't feel ignored, we'll just have to try harder in the coming year. Happy Thanksgiving!