Thanksgiving Day 2007: A Reason to Be Thankful

Thanksgiving day has come and gone. The family gathering is over and we ate too much, as usual. We enjoyed the annual game of Liverpool Rummy and took in the traditional football games on television. It was a really lovely day, and I have a particular reason for being appreciative and grateful.

This year I came to terms with who I am, faults and all. I have finally been able to like the fellow I see in the mirror. So what, you say. I respond that that is no mean accomplishment. It makes a critical difference in my experience at Thanksgiving. In the past I was there, but I was acutely uncomf0rtable with the other people at the gathering. At the time, I really disliked myself and I projected my own feelings about myself into what I thought other people were thinking about me. I had this profound need to impress or to justify my existence. In short, there was no way that I could just enjoy the moment.

Now I can because I have simply accepted that we are who are, for better or worse. The only thing we can do with our lives is to make the best of what we are given. Now I can, because I have realized that the only thing we have is the moment we are in. We are never given any guarantees that there will be a tomorrow or how many tomorrows there will be. We have no guarantees that any of our dreams or ambitions will ever be realized. The only thing we can have with any certainty are the important relationships we have with others, at least in the moment we are living. And maybe the love we feel for others and they for us. That is about it.

I live in the moment now. I lived in the moment throughout this day of Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, 2007. I truly enjoyed the precious time I shared with friends and family. I am truly grateful that I am now capable of experiencing these moments in a wonderfully positive way. I am a genuinely rich man for that.