Yesterday's Turkey

 

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” ~ Mark Twain

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day in the USA. Tomorrow will mark the start of another trip around the sun for me. And in the middle of the joy, I will be attending a final send-off today. C’est la vie.

To celebrate my birthday, I will be hiking with 2 friends, reacquainting myself with a trail I loved the first time around. As I hike, I will be thinking about all the things I am grateful for at 2 scores and six years.

I am grateful for another year, for good health, for family and friends, and for my cats – Bailey and Bernie. I am grateful for a relationship with a loving God and for answered prayers – the yes, the no, and the wait. I am grateful for who I am becoming, regretting not who I have been because it has played a part in who I am today, and who I am aspiring and working to be tomorrow.

I am grateful for all the wisdom at whose feet I have tarried. No matter the vessel that carried it – I appreciate it. It has made me a calmer, more attentive, and more patient person. I am also grateful that as I grow, my preferred learning methods are changing and technology is evolving to accommodate me. I am grateful that I can reflect on what I’ve learned and share it in a small way – thank you for reading and coming back to these musings.

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” ~ W.T. Purkiser

I am grateful for my dexterous fingers and the art they have created, edible, wearable, usable; the many crafts and skills I have practiced over the years. I am grateful for the internet that has made it even easier to keep learning how to do new things.  

Last year’s post on a day like today was yet again about giving thanks and I shared a poem that encouraged me to be thankful and happy. 12 months later, that advice remains valid, and as life unfolds with its twists and turns, I intend to be and do all with joy because for as long as I am here, I will be here fully present.

Cheers to the 2,400 Fridays I have been around this plane!

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ~ Sophia Loren

“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite – only a sense of existence. Well, anything for variety. I am ready to try this for the next ten thousand years and exhaust it. How sweet to think of my extremities well charred, and my intellectual part too, so that there is no danger of worm or rot for a long while. My breath is sweet to me. Oh, how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it, for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

 

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