Tomorrow will be a different kind of Thanksgiving than we have ever celebrated in our home. My older son and his wife will be with her family, my son is in rehab and his son - my grandson will be with his mom. It will just be my husband, my daughter and me. At one point I thought about just blowing the day off, staying in my PJs all day and doing pretty much nothing.
At some point in the last week I stopped and really began to count my blessings and realize all the things that I have to be thankful for. Number one this year is that MY SON IS IN REHAB! I know where he is and I know that he is safe. He is alive and there is hope that he will get the tools he needs to be healthy and sober this time next year. I will see my older son and his wife on Saturday. My grandson spent the night with me last night and I took off from work today to play with him until his mom gets off work. I will have a relaxing day tomorrow with my husband and my daughter. I have my health and my sanity is still intact (pretty much anyway).
I will prepare our traditional Thanksgiving feast and we will enjoy it for the next few days. I will bow my head in a prayer of Thanksgiving for the gifts I have been given this year. When I stop and have a quiet moment I realize that there are many more than I could ever list.
I am a truly blessed woman.
Praying for mine and yours. Hoping that we all have a peace filled Thanksgiving day.
So true. I have moment when I think about tomorrow and my heart fills with self pity that my family is not together. When those moments happen, I try to remember my blessings and how much worse things could be.
ReplyDeleteLast year at this time my son had just been arrested. We did not go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving because we were preparing to send my son out of state to rehab and we wanted one last holiday as a family before he left. I'm pretty sure he spent the entire Thanksgiving high while the rest of us sat around in a pity party at the thought of losing him for the next six months to rehab and sober living.
This year he is in another state, and I have not seen him in 3 months. I miss him, but I have much to be thankful for...number one being his current sobriety.
If you lived closer, we could combine our small little partial family units and really feast it up! :)
Omg,....we're the same ! First time ever,.... it's only my husband, me, & our oldest son/middle child, who's 25. It seems so "unpopulated" for Thanksgiving, to me. Our oldest daughter is living in Australia, our other son(the addict) is in Fla., like notmyboy's son. Most of our extended family is up north in CT. & my other brother & wife are going to spend it with their oldest son, his wife, & her family. We usually are with them, since we only live 2 hr.s from them. This is only the 2nd time ever not being with our addict son on Thanksgiving. First time was in 2007 when he was in a wilderness camp for troubled teens at 16 yr.s old. Anyway, due to it feeling so lonely & it also being the first holiday w/out my mom who just died at the end of August, it's been feeling kind of crappy leading up to this. But I do just have to change my focus on all the abundance of blessings I have. Last year, at this time, our son had just been arrested & was facing a felony charge for possession of cocaine. This year, he's miraculously avoided a felony & is CLEAN & very into working on his recovery. Now THAT'S all I've prayed for ! ! Happy Thanksgiving & enjoy your day. : )
ReplyDeleteI wish we could all get together one day! I'd be proud to share anything I have with any of my fellow POAs. Praying that you all have a quiet, peace filled day tommorrow.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first year for me since Duane died that I'm cooking. And I'm pretty mad about it. Lol. My daughter convinced me but I don't think I'll do it again next year. I like going out for Thanksgiving. No dishes, no slaving over a hot stove, no stinkin' leftovers. :D I love how you think. Have a happy thanksgiving. I'm counting my blessings, too.
ReplyDeleteCassie,
ReplyDeleteReading your blog helped me to come to the decision to carry on today. My son is in rehab,he is alive and I can talk to him on the phone and I will get to see him soon. If I were in your shoes I am positive I would feel just the same as you.