Thanksgiving was the best in many years

November 27, 2010 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Family, Friends, Holidays, Musings 

This year, I celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends and, for several reasons, it was the best Thanksgiving I’ve enjoyed in many years. I’ll remember and treasure it for a long time.

My oldest granddaughter, Courtnie, recently moved into her new home and volunteered to host our Thanksgiving celebration. I’m sure it was a lot of work for her, but many others pitched in to help.

I love watching as the next generation takes on responsibilities and starts traditions of their own that we can share.

When I was a kid, we always went to my grandfather’s house for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Later, as an adult, I would visit various friends and family members as I moved around the country.

This year, I spent Thanksgiving with my granddaughter and look forward to Christmas morning brunch with my daughter. The Christmas breakfast will have some of the same people sharing, but won’t be as large as the Thanksgiving celebration.

I’m not sure how many people were at Courtnie and Danny’s home for Thanksgiving, but it must have been around forty or fifty. It’s a good thing it was a warm and sunny day and we could spread out throughout the house, the porch, deck, and yard. All of us would never have fit inside if it had been cold and rainy.

As with all families, some of us have had our differences in the past, but it was good to see all of us come together and enjoy each other’s company with no disagreements, arguments, or hard feelings.

The food was outstanding, and I really enjoyed the meal, but even more importantly, I enjoyed the after-eating conversation and laughter. We had a great time.

Yesterday morning, over my first cup of coffee, I jotted down some of my thoughts and recollections from Thanksgiving Day and posted them on my profile at Facebook. I decided today that I’m going to repost them here.

I’m thankful for…

…hugs from beautiful women…

…enjoying time together with optimistic, happy people…

…watching a Marine Corps Iraq War veteran roll his eyes when I told him the last time I saw him he was only this tall (and then hold my hand out about waist high)…

…lumpy mashed potatoes, because you know someone took the time to make them the right way, rather than pouring some flakes out of a box…

…hand-made whipped cream with a touch of maple syrup in it…

…laughing out loud with my family…

…watching little children who are just starting their life’s journey…

…letting the old folks fix their plates first, and then realizing I’m one of the old folks and it’s my turn to eat!…

…catching up on all the things going on in our lives…

…Thanksgiving coming just right in my chemo schedule so that I felt good, had some energy, and my taste buds cooperated on one of the most important days of the year…

… having a wonderful, loving, beautiful, and talented daughter…

…hugs from beautiful women…

…and more things I (or you) will think of…

I’m very thankful for still being here. Back in March, it didn’t look like I was going to live this long, but now it’s looking like we’re going to kick this cancer and I hope to be around for quite a few more years.

I had a wonderful time with my family and friends this year.

I hope you did, too.

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I am very grateful for all that I have – even in a bad year

November 28, 2009 by JD · 3 Comments
Filed under: Family, Friends, Holidays, Murphy NC 28906, Murphy North Carolina, Musings, Personal 

I’m not going to lie about it.

2009 has been a very difficult year for me, but it could have been much worse.

My home is not the home of my dreams, but it gives me a place to live until I can earn enough to buy or build the home I dream of.

This old house is where my parents retired in the early 1970s. They left Atlanta and moved to Murphy, NC. They loved living here, even when times were tough.

Pop died in the summer of 1991 and Mom died last year, just before Thanksgiving.

Both of them have been on my mind a lot this month.

Mom’s birthday was November 6; their anniversary was November 25; Thanksgiving was a couple of days ago. It’s been a month of memories and being thoughtful about what is important in life.

Both of them worked hard all their lives and were quite a bit healthier and stronger in their latter years than I am now. It gives me something to work towards – better health.

Both of them had serious health problems earlier in their lives and they still managed to mostly overcome them over time.

Pop broke his back when he fell off a crane onto a truck’s roof. For years he could do very little. Still, many years later, he could easily outwork me.

Mom had trouble with her legs for most of her life, but that didn’t stop her from doing what she wanted, until her cancer surgery caused nerve damage and she was no longer able to walk unassisted.

So, I can look back on my illness earlier this year and think “poor me” all I want, or I can continue to do what I can to get around and rebuild my strength.

Sometimes life just isn’t easy. It’s the challenges that make us stronger and help us develop real character.

So, maybe that’s what I’m working on now – character.

Money is tight, but I’ve managed to find something to eat for over 57 years while fending off everything that tried to eat me, so I guess that’s some measure of success.

(I’m not sure who said that originally, but I read it some time back and liked it enough to paraphrase it for myself.)

I love living here in Murphy. Sometimes it’s hard to earn a living here, but other people in other areas have had it tough, too. We do what we have to do to survive.

I’ve decided that I want to help others as I help myself and that’s why I’ve dedicated myself to building the best marketing system for locally-owned small businesses in Murphy, NC. You can see the start of it at Murphy Gold and Murphy Connections. Over time, it will get better and better and I look forward to helping small business owners in our little mountain town market their businesses to a wider audience.

While I may not have all I need right now, I do have a plan and I’m working on that plan every day. It gives me something to work towards and that’s important.

Thanksgiving was an interesting day. I spent the day alone, but I still had contact with family and friends online and over the phone.

Several friends called to see how I was doing and to wish me a happy holiday.

I was in touch with family even though I didn’t see them in person.

I was alone, but not lonely. Memories of past holidays gave me good feelings and I smiled quite a bit during the day.

Even though I may not be able to visit my brother and his family this year, I’ll think of them often.

I’m looking forward to Christmas breakfast at my daughter’s house and spending time with that branch of my family. Christmas will be here before we have a chance to turn around a few times.

Would I have enjoyed a house full of people and a table loaded with traditional Thanksgiving food this year? Of course, I would.

But, I’ve done that many times over the last few decades, so missing it now and then really isn’t such a big deal.

I’m grateful for all I have and I intend to redouble my efforts to rebuild my marketing business to where I’ll be enjoying prosperity instead of mere survival.

As we enter into this major winter holiday season, I hope you’ll reflect on all that you have and all the good memories of times and people who have helped shape your life.

We all have a lot to be thankful for.

All the best,

JD

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