Thankful
I suppose even a Thanksgiving Facebook status is now quite late, let alone a Thanksgiving blog post.
The holiday significantly perturbed my weekly routine, as may be expected. My week seems like it was a bit different than a holiday week might be expected to be, but I'm OK with that. For example, most of my coworkers took the entire week off while I worked right up until my 40 hours ran out Wednesday afternoon. Typically, Thanksgiving dinner is a challenge to creatively stack large amounts of food on a plate so you can stuff yourself. Maybe I just took smaller portions this time, but my plate was never that full and my meal didn't seem like overindulgence. My brother and sisters were super-excited to go shopping for Black Friday, leaving Thursday night. I slept in, tagging along with my dad Friday afternoon on his annual farm supply trip. Dad remarked that I didn't buy anything and didn't even really linger over much. Black Friday is about shopping, but I guess I just don't need anything.
Time off, large meals, and consumerism - these are some of the things that often come to mind in regards to Thanksgiving. My week ended up being about none of these things, really.
If not about those things, then what was my week about? People. How did I spend my week? Taking my little sisters swing dancing, then climbing with a friend. Going out for good food. Savoring one of the last warm afternoons outside dancing with my dance partner. (After a few weeks of this, we've now impressed the mailman. He says, "I wish I could dance like that." I tell him I wish I could too...) Thanksgiving Eve was about climbing with friends old and new, then hanging out with other friends and talking about real life. T-Day was about good food and good movies with family. Friday was about sleeping in, more climbing, and more food with church friends. Saturday? Spending time with yet another set of friends, saving the world from the turtle-shaped cardboard aliens. (It's a competitive shooting game, for which the obtuse description amuses me.) I may have spent way more of the day than intended, freezing because the weather forecast was wrong and I under-dressed, but that's OK because I was doing something I enjoy. To round out the week, Sunday was about Summit, my Summit friends, and one more round of food with yet more friends.
All these moments appear frozen in time, illuminated as if by lightning. This is what my life has become: a series of moments for which I wouldn't trade anything. In some, I also see flashes of what I want my life to be. In those moments, I'm fully relaxed and content, seeing what I've been given and wishing to stay there forever. I understand how I've gotten here, even through my past doubts and confusion. These are the moments that I live for. These are the moments worth remembering.
It's like Andrew says here, though - all these moments are moments of "no re-runs". I was watching a particularly colorful sunset Saturday on my way home from the shooting range. Fortunately, my drive was mostly westerly so I had the opportunity to watch the colors s they changed and interacted with the ever-changing cloud cover. Then it was gone and would never happen again. In a similar way, every opportunity of which I'd taken advantage will occur exactly once. I could take it or I could pass it by, but I'll never get the chance to make up missed opportunities or to re-do any of them. That knowledge adds value, poignancy, and urgency to every one.
I'm thankful for everything I've been given and for the path that I'm on. I don't always know where it's going or how it'll end up, but I'm glad to be on it. For each moment whether content or anxious, promising or trying, I'm grateful.
And that's what I'm thankful for this year.
The holiday significantly perturbed my weekly routine, as may be expected. My week seems like it was a bit different than a holiday week might be expected to be, but I'm OK with that. For example, most of my coworkers took the entire week off while I worked right up until my 40 hours ran out Wednesday afternoon. Typically, Thanksgiving dinner is a challenge to creatively stack large amounts of food on a plate so you can stuff yourself. Maybe I just took smaller portions this time, but my plate was never that full and my meal didn't seem like overindulgence. My brother and sisters were super-excited to go shopping for Black Friday, leaving Thursday night. I slept in, tagging along with my dad Friday afternoon on his annual farm supply trip. Dad remarked that I didn't buy anything and didn't even really linger over much. Black Friday is about shopping, but I guess I just don't need anything.
Time off, large meals, and consumerism - these are some of the things that often come to mind in regards to Thanksgiving. My week ended up being about none of these things, really.
If not about those things, then what was my week about? People. How did I spend my week? Taking my little sisters swing dancing, then climbing with a friend. Going out for good food. Savoring one of the last warm afternoons outside dancing with my dance partner. (After a few weeks of this, we've now impressed the mailman. He says, "I wish I could dance like that." I tell him I wish I could too...) Thanksgiving Eve was about climbing with friends old and new, then hanging out with other friends and talking about real life. T-Day was about good food and good movies with family. Friday was about sleeping in, more climbing, and more food with church friends. Saturday? Spending time with yet another set of friends, saving the world from the turtle-shaped cardboard aliens. (It's a competitive shooting game, for which the obtuse description amuses me.) I may have spent way more of the day than intended, freezing because the weather forecast was wrong and I under-dressed, but that's OK because I was doing something I enjoy. To round out the week, Sunday was about Summit, my Summit friends, and one more round of food with yet more friends.
All these moments appear frozen in time, illuminated as if by lightning. This is what my life has become: a series of moments for which I wouldn't trade anything. In some, I also see flashes of what I want my life to be. In those moments, I'm fully relaxed and content, seeing what I've been given and wishing to stay there forever. I understand how I've gotten here, even through my past doubts and confusion. These are the moments that I live for. These are the moments worth remembering.
It's like Andrew says here, though - all these moments are moments of "no re-runs". I was watching a particularly colorful sunset Saturday on my way home from the shooting range. Fortunately, my drive was mostly westerly so I had the opportunity to watch the colors s they changed and interacted with the ever-changing cloud cover. Then it was gone and would never happen again. In a similar way, every opportunity of which I'd taken advantage will occur exactly once. I could take it or I could pass it by, but I'll never get the chance to make up missed opportunities or to re-do any of them. That knowledge adds value, poignancy, and urgency to every one.
I'm thankful for everything I've been given and for the path that I'm on. I don't always know where it's going or how it'll end up, but I'm glad to be on it. For each moment whether content or anxious, promising or trying, I'm grateful.
And that's what I'm thankful for this year.
Labels: life
posted by The student of life at 10:05 PM
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