Thankful 2015
Feeling the gratitude
This year, we’re having a small Thanksgiving get together — just me, David, and my two brothers, Ross and Glenn.
For the past two years we’ve hosted big Friendsgiving celebrations, inviting anyone we knew who couldn’t travel or who just wanted to be with friends. This year was stressful, especially since David recently had arthroscopic hip surgery to remove a bone spur, and I’m in grad school. So, we decided to keep it small, and for that I’m thankful.
I always hated going around the table at Thanksgiving, saying what we were all thankful for. Not because I hated being thankful. It’s just that it always felt so cheesy to just say something like “family” or “good health.” I actually wanted to say something deeper, more meaningful, and because I didn’t want to hold anyone up from eating, I usually just said whatever cliche I could think of to get the show on the road.
Since I’m writing this now, the day before Thanksgiving, and the only thing I’m waiting for at the moment are the two pumpkin pies in the oven — I’ve got time to dole out a helping of gratitude.
I’m thankful for:
Getting into the Design Strategy MBA program at CCA. It’s been a hell of thing. The work has been hard, and my late nights and almost daily group meetings sometimes make David feel like a grad school widower (that’s a thing right?) but I’m loving it. I got to sing and dance to songs about cash flow statements and am currently working on innovating car seat environments for autonomous vehicles with an awesome team of creatives. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Bad experiences that have taught me lessons. I wasn’t thankful for them at first — especially while I was in the midst of them — but I’ve grown and learned so much in the past two years. I dealt with a good bit of crap professionally, and a decent amount of distressful situations in my personal life. Looking back though, I see that I’ve come out on the other side, stronger, wiser, and a lot more asskicking-er.
Good experiences that give me hope. Joining a gym and finding out that I actually enjoy working out, getting into a really amazing grad school that pushes me to grow and learn, discovering I had a much bigger support system here than I had thought — all of these good experiences remind me that there are so many good things out there. That the bad can always be outbalanced, if you weigh things properly.
David. OK, so just a little cliche. I am so thankful to have the love and support of this amazing person — David! The one person who can make me laugh constantly, who makes me angry-laugh almost as frequently, and who always makes me want to be better. You inspire me to persevere and to take challenges head on. I am thankful for the adventures we’ve had, and for all the adventures to come.
Whether you’re having a big celebration, or a small one, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving at all, I hope you’ll take a moment to think about the things in life that you are grateful for. It doesn’t have to be much, and it’s OK if it’s cliche. As for me, I’m thankful for the prospect of sleeping in tomorrow, cooking all day, maybe doing some homework, and then eating turkey and ham. I think we’re calling it Turkam.
