Thanksgiving has a very fun and quirky tradition for my family. My family which consists of the Madre, sister, and myself (I do have more family than this...but these two ladies are my life and live closest). Our Thanksgiving festivities started when I first moved South 6 wonderful years ago. We had our first Thanksgiving with the three of us back together again and it would be my first one not spending with our Hotchkiss clan (madre's side of the familia). We realized that the day would be kind of boring with just the three of us so why not spice it up by dressing up??? Dress up we did! The sister and I put on my old prom dresses and Madre threw together some fany clothes in her closet (which ended up being a Stevie Nicks look) and we sat down to a "fancy" Thanksgiving meal. It was a night of great laughs. We had so much fun that we decided to make it a tradition to "dress up".
Each year since we have gone to the Goodwill to scope out the funniest outfits that we can put together. We have made it into a contest and spend weeks before dropping hints at how great our individual outfits are. How we are so sure that we are going to beat the other two. Then on the actuall day we will get dressed five minutes before it's time to sit down for our feast and all walk out of our rooms at the same time....huge amounts of belly laughter usually follows when we show off our finds! It is one of the best traditions that we have!
So, as I was so excited when I first awoke this morning for a day full of laughter I was soon greeted with sadness! A reminder that life is really really short and we need to give THANKS for each day that we are blessed with! A reminder to tell those people in my life whom I love dearly, exactly that, that I love them! Life can be taken away from us in an instant and it's important that we take time each day to remember how very lucky we are to get another day in life. So, I've been doing exactly that, telling people how much I care and love for them and I don't care if it's mushy and sentimental because I think it's important that they know! It's important that we say how we feel and we say it as often as we can because we don't know if we will be here tomorrow!
My heart is breaking for a friend today who unfortunately is experiencing a level of loss that I can not even imagine. A good man lost his life last night. A man that I met several times and shared laughter with. A man that clearly loved my dear friend and wanted to spend his life with her. And I can't help but feel in shock that this tragedy really happened! It is surreal and devastating!!! It doesn't seem fair and all that I want to do is to wrap my arms around my friend and take this pain away from her. But, you can't do that and God does have his plans. Even if we don't understand them at the moment.
So, as everyone is hopefully spending this day with those that they love and cherish...tell them exactly how you feel! If you can't be with those people today, call them and let them know that you love them! You really never know when it will be your last chance to do so.Take the time to be grateful for being blessed with another day on Earth! Don't waste these moments that we are given on petty things and take this time to reflect on the good in your life! Life is short...dont waste it.
I sincerely hope that everyone enjoys their day today and that you have some of your very own fun traditions that you're looking forward to today! Now off to finish cooking, drinking, and spending this time with two women that mean the absolute world to me...
No comments:
Post a Comment