Thankful

Awww...this year I flew home on Thanksgiving day and convinced my mother to postpone thanksgiving dinner until Friday. So now that we have filled up on fixings, i can truly sit back reflect and give thanks.

This year I am thankful for the wisdom to breathe, dream and live all at once.

In my younger years, I was a speed racer. I drove fast! I drove hard! If you were the unlucky fool to get caught in front of me, you got passed, pushed out the way, or quite frankly became part of the dust in my rearview mirror.

You see my dreaming was a contact sport. I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it, how I wanted it and as fast as I could get it. My way or the highway – come hell or high water. And if someone cried, got hurt or broke a nail– dammit it wasn’t going to be me!

Then one day i thought to myself...we’d better slow down. Not because I broke a nail, but because let’s be honest fast is exhausting. But then I became bored and yes even bore-ing. I became restless and disappointed - a dreamer without movement - fearful of silence and darkness.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still love a good race! But I’ve learned that dreaming is both conscious and unconscious. It’s fast and slow. It’s sweet, spicy, savory and salty.

This year as I am thankful to the Native Americans for turkey and corn-on-the-cob…

and my mommy for her mothering…

and my daddy for his curiously silent (and yes confusing) voicemails that let me know I’m on his mind…

and to my niece Shadeya who lobbies for my annual trip home every time I talk to her and sends me handmade cards…

and my family who always have my back even when I don’t realize I need coverage…

and to the BFFs for Mac-N-Cheese recipes, silly giggles, a shoulder to cry on, a hard edge as a reality check, graceful patience, for speaking to my soul when I’m hiding in my monifa-ism, good company, great conversation, cake-love, and being a only a phonecall away to take me back to the simple pleasures of being a BFF….

and those nameless wondrous beings that I have loved and lost…loved again and lost again…but will always love anyway…

and my kinky thick-ass hair to remind me that natural beauty is like life - organic, natural, requires patience and unexpected…

and my fellow Facebook fanatics for re-connection with family, friends, and everlasting companionships of SL addiction, Mafia Wars, and Farmville…

and free Wi-Fi!...

and to the creators of Moscato D’Asti, popcorn and kit-kat…

and kind neighbors that waive in the mornings and knock on my door when i happen to be home sick - just to make sure I’m alive because it a Wednesday and my car hadn’t moved all day….

and to the strangers that have a kind word or kind face…

and for strangers that don’t have a kind word or a kind face…

and to random inspiration in the most surprising ways…

and a tight verse over a banging beat to keep on repeat and get me over it and get me through it…

and disappointment to teach me acceptance…

and surprises to keep me smiling…

and love to keep me hopeful…

I am most thankful for knowing that thanksgiving comes from within…as a daily prayer…and is the comfort of knowing that every blessing, every burden, every opportunity and every obstacle is part of life’s purpose.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s wishing you and your family an amazing holiday season!

- ILANDGUL

Image Citation: "Half Diva, Half Amazing" by Frank Morrison