Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all of the things you are thankful for. This year will be significantly different from our Thanksgiving last year when we told our foreign exchange student Axelle, that the American Tradition was to have the hosts of dinner dress like Indians and everyone else to dress like Pilgrims. To complete the Thanksgiving tradition, after dinner the Pilgrims would chase the Indians out of the house and take over. Needless to say our dinner was interesting.
But this year more than ever I have so much to be thankful for. I decided to put together a list of just a few of the things that I am thankful for every day.
1) First and foremost I am thankful for the fact that this year Jenn & I’s family became complete with the addition of Nolin. We are so lucky to have him in our lives and not a day goes by that I don’t think about just how grateful I am to be his father.
2) Both Jenn & I’s immediate and extended families. The older I get, the more I realize just how important family is.
3) I am thankful that I decided to go out to Clarendon Ballroom one night and had a bad haircut (which is pretty much the same haircut I have now) that helped me meet my wife.
4) On that note, I guess I also have to be thankful that Jenn said yes.
5) In working with foster children each week, I realize just how hard some kids have it, and how lucky both Jenn & I are to have grown up in the families that we did.
6) With so many people out of work, I am also grateful to have been rejuvenated with a new job that I enjoy going to every day.
7) I am thankful for the moments that I have on my drive home from work when I am able to talk to my grandmother on the phone. She fills me in on everything that is going on.
8) And I feel very fortunate that Nolin has had a chance to meet Nana, one of his great grandparents. And while I do wish that he had a chance to meet the rest of Jenn & I’s grandparents because I know that they would just eat him up, I realize that they are all with him each and every day.
9) The laughs that I get every time that Jenn busts out one of her slightly incorrect sayings or lyrics to songs (i.e. Slow as Moses (or molasses) or when she channels Vanilla Ice with “A1A Detroit Avenue”
10) Jenn’s adventurous spirit and desire to travel.
11) My friends and all the people who I have met along the way.
12) The smile Nolin gives me when I pick him up out of the crib in the morning or when I walk into the room and he sees me.
13) The fact that our son has been healthy, happy and full of life.
14) Pancake our dog that found his way into our lives last year and even if he acts like a grumbly old man, he is pretty cool and definitely part of our family.
15) Toonces our stray cat who adopted us a few years ago. Although maybe not as thankful now that the other stray cats in the neighborhood are trying to make our house their home too.
16) The small ad for Catholic Charities that Jenn saw in our church bulletin one Sunday that eventually led us to Nolin.
17) My TV…yes it is completely materialistic and selfish…but I waited five years for it and I am a fan.
18) Our year with Axelle. I learned so much in that year and look forward to watching her grow up and become an adult.
19) That Jenn agreed to move down to Florida with me in a house I bought that she had never even seen a picture of (my pencil drawing rendition really wasn’t very good).
20) The fact that I have already seen and experienced more in my life than I ever imagined and I feel like I am just getting started…
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In Nolin’s perfect world, all of his friends and the people he loves would all live on our cul-de-sac and he would see them every day. If Nolin has ever met you, then you are his friend and a person he loves and therefore would be living on our cul-de-sac.
