On Thanksgiving Day many of us have the tradition of stating (out loud) what we are thankful for. I have done it myself, gone around the dinner table and asked everyone to share. Each person would get up, in sincere honesty, and provide a list of things that they are thankful for. This year, I am going to challenge us all to list just one thing.
That’s right one thing.
It’s much easier to ramble off a list so I ask us all to THINK! I have been thinking about this for weeks and could not get it right ……until now!
This year I want to shout from the rooftops that I AM THANKFUL FOR ADOPTION! YES ADOPTION!
You see, I was adopted and I am thankful. It is the result of that 1 thing in my life that has set the course for my entire existence. I am thankful that the 2 people who adopted me (my parents) did so and brought me to live in the small modest home I grew up in.
If THOSE 2 people didn’t adopt me and bring me to THAT home at THAT place and time – I would not be the person I am today, which is a result of every experience I have had and every person I have known from Mari Nelson who I just connected with after over 35 years to Perry who I have lived with for the past 15.
I am thankful for adoption because I was adopted. And through that adoption I have been blessed with wonderful family members - cousins, aunts and uncles, true friends and long time colleagues. I am thankful for adoption because I got to grow up in Morton Grove, Illinois, go to Hebrew school, learn to play the piano and have the opportunity to attend college all in a nurturing environment. And THAT just scratches the surface.
So I ask you to dig deep and think – what is REALLY important and what do you REALLY have to be thankful for?
This Thanksgiving, with all the turmoil in the world, it is important not to lose focus but rather to take stock in what really matters. Many people are losing their homes, their jobs and their comfortable way of life. But even those people have a reason to be thankful this year. Perhaps this year, for many, the focus on the thanks and the gratitude will have less to do with what they have and more to do with who they are, where they came from or what they can achieve as a result of it.
So, as you sit at your Thanksgiving table, adorned with candles, flowers and food, take just a moment to reflect on just one thing (big or small) that you are truly thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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