Tuesday 11 October 2011

Things To Be Thankful For


Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Marco and I did not even know that we would be in Vancouver for this holiday, so we were pleasantly surprised when our sister-in-law invited us for dinner with turkey and trimmings.

Thinking about Thanksgiving made me ponder on what I am thankful for at this moment in my life.

First of all, I am thankful for finding this wonderful photo on Guildwood Gardens, which blog owner Gisela kindly let me use to illustrate this post. The photo contains a lot of the things that I love: fall produce, apples, Canada, flowers and colourful leaves!


I am thankful for Reese, Jessi, Fiona, Sarah, Aimee and Julia, who kept you entertained while I was on vacation. It felt good to know these ladies were willing and able to help me out. It was nice to have a little blogging holiday. Which brings me to another big item for thankfulness: I am thankful I started a blog this year and for how many connections I have made by doing that. How amazing it was to be welcomed into this community with open arms. I am very happy to have met some lovely people through blogging, some of which feel like friends to me now.

I am thankful for being able to spent some time in Vancouver, visiting with our family over here and meeting my new little niece Georgia. I am thankful for my sisters-in-law, Vanessa & Toni and their cooking skills! I am thankful that my parents-in-law, Butch & Sylvia and Marco's brothers, Nino & Giulio, have warmly welcomed me into this family when I first met them all. And I am thankful that my family back home in Germany has done the same for Marco.

I am also very thankful that Marco and I are both healthy and have good jobs and a home, were our two cats are waiting for us to return from our absence. I am thankful that we are able to travel, and that I actually have found somebody to do my travelling with. I am thankful for my husband's love and understanding.

I am thankful for slowly starting to know and like myself better. I am thankful that I have realized that I want more happiness and contentment in my life and I am thankful for the people who are helping me achieve this. I know that somewhere along this road of self-discovery, I will meet the real me. Even though I am impatiently waiting for this day, I know that taking it slow is better for me.

All-in-all, there is a lot in my life that I can be thankful for. Friends, family, new experiences, good food, love, knowing of things and places that will make me happy when I consciously let myself enjoy them.

Sometimes all I need is this awareness, and then suddenly all my worries and insecurities seem slightly silly and a lot more manageable.

Sometimes all I need is a vacation and a dinner with family to realize how good I really have it.

Sometimes I need a day like Thanksgiving to remind me of what's real and important in my life.

I hope that I can make the notion of Thankgsgiving last a little longer than just the one day.

And I hope that there are things to be thankful for in all of your lives, too!
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© All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated)

6 comments:

  1. This is such a lovely post Annika! I love reading about gratitude and you wrote it in a way that made me feel thankful too. I feel thankful of the many things that you are thankful for. I do miss Thanksgiving in Canada. It was always a special occasion where I spent with friends and celebrated with food, laughter and love.

    Glad you enjoyed your trip there. You'll have to share some of your favourite things about where you went around B.C.

    xo

    Reese
    http://rambleswithreese.etsy.com
    http://rambleswithreese.blogspot.com

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  2. a lovely post Annika!
    great you are back!
    JenMuna

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  3. What an absolutely lovely post!

    I feel similarly about so many of these things and am slightly envious of your ability to put all those thoughts down on paper so eloquently :)

    I work everyday to not think too much and to figure out who I am and what I want to do in this life. I'm making a good start of it finally with the blog and now Etsy store but I have so many more goals and ideas to accomplish!

    Which reminds me, I love your Merit Badge page - genius! I love the idea of a 'bucket list' but have only gotten around to writing down yearly goals...I still feel a little scared at putting everything down in a list because it will be a constant reminder of what I haven't done yet.

    See...I'm thinking too much again :)

    Also, thanks for stopping by my blog the other day to check out my cat pics! I hope you'll keep stopping by so we can share in the journey together :)

    Jenn

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  4. Lovely post. I love the idea of Thanksgiving, maybe we should start a campaign to make it a British holiday too. x

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  5. Hello Annika
    just looked at my picture in your blog. Looks really great:)
    Hope you'll visit my Guildwood garden blog in Canada again.
    I believe Thanksgiving should celebrated every day for all the things we treasure.
    - Cheers Gisela.

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  6. beautiful post. i'm glad you had such a good time on canada and have so much to be thankful for :)

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