You can chose to be thankful

Last week was Thanksgiving.  I am not sure how many people paused to be thankful and how many people stuffed their bellies with way more food than they needed.  Many people spent the day traveling to relative's homes -- sometimes more than one home.  My day was supposed to be spent traveling to two different homes and seeing much family.  But, as Wednesday afternoon closed in, I began to think it was not going to happen.  We notified the families that we might not be attending but before we went to bed my middle child had a fever of 101.5 and my youngest had been diagnosed with an ear infection. :(  We were staying home.  My husband went out and purchased a small turkey and fixings so we could still have the traditional pant-popping meal at home.

Thursday morning was lazy.  It was kind of nice to not have to worry about everyone getting up, dressed and ready for that first trek to grandma's house.  By this time the middle one was a lump on the couch and the other two, while lower fevers, were not moving much.  My husband and I took time to enjoy the beautiful weather and get a couple things done that we did not want to take time from healthy kids to do.  The turkey in the oven, my husband cleaned the garage while I cleaned out a portion of the school room so we could move a chair out of that room (to make room for other things which would in turn make room for the tree).   The kids were watching movies and playing video games in between my temperature checks and prodding to drink more fluids.

The turkey dinner was delicious.  It was not my mom's but it was good.  I missed seeing some extended family but instead of sitting there feeling sorry for all of us for being stuck in a home ill, I chose to be thankful.  Thankful for the 3 children I am blessed with.  Thankful that we have medicines to bring down fevers that reach 102 by the end of the turkey dinner.  Thankful for medicines that help the ear pain for the child who has had so many ear infections that he can tell me it is infected.  Thankful that I am able to own my own otoscope to check to see that it is really infected before we trek to the doctor's office for a false alarm.  Thankful for a husband who is willing to shop the night before Thanksgiving for last minute meal supplies.  Thankful that we have a meal to eat.  Thankful that we have a roof over our heads.  The list goes on... I am sure that you get the picture.

I could have chosen to be sorry for our situation.  I could have sat there and felt bad for what I perceived as things we did not have, but instead I counted all my blessings and they were MANY!  I chose to fill the house with love.  I chose to hug my little sick children and tell them how thankful I was for them.  It felt more like Thanksgiving than just about any other year because I sat back and reflected on what I have and what I should be thankful for rather than just filling my stomach to the point of bursting and reliving days gone by with extended family...