October 11, 2010

Better late than never!

This Thanksgiving weekend, Adam and I traversed North to visit his parents. I learned how to use pruners on pine trees, and Adam's dad learned why I will never be given a chainsaw (what? I like slicin' up trees!) or any other weapon of some chaotic distruction. We had an excellent home-made meal, involving turkey cooked on the BBQ (tastes the same as a stove-cooked one), real stuffing, can-berry sauce, turnip, mashed potatoes, carrots straight from a friend's garden, home made buns and pickled beets, which I'd never had before, and didn't mind! It was enough to make me forget that "my family" wasn't really having Thanksgiving as a proper sit-down this weekend... schedules just didn't match up.

Adam and I were home most of the day today. We had Pizza Hut Pizza and I stomped on any form of diet I was on until it begged for mercy. Then I started cleaning the office out (again) in preparation for the Great Car Gutting of 2010, aka my plans for tomorrow to get everything out of my car so it can be gone by the end of this month at the latest. I had a bath, then cleaned some more. I even managed to clear off one of the book cases we have and re-purposed it into what it was supposed to be: a second yarn-shelf. Which is perfect, because Adam's mom TOTALLY rocked my socks off, and scored about $50 worth of knitting needles and a whole basket full of wound up scrap yarn from a rummage sale at the Sprucedale Church. I am now the proud owner of 2 sets of seriously massive 12.5mm needles!

Anyways, I got thinking about Thanksgiving, and giving thanks in general. All in all, 2010 has been a pretty ass-tastic year for me. Like, seriously, I've been saying "Oh, next year will be better" for years now, but I didn't think things could really get worse than this.

Then I got news: Despite a few rockey moments, my cousin had her first baby, Chelsea Evelyn Ann, on 10-10-10. I posted on my facebook that I would break out my pink yarn for her. Then, almost without warning, a list started to form in my head:

Things I'm Thankful for, despite this year being Craptastic:

1. I have a family that loves me and supports me and helps me however they can, even when I didn't deserve it, didn't earn it, or didn't think I wanted/needed it.

2. I have a new family that loves me, teaches me things, and don't fault me for being a bit of a nutbar sometimes. In fact, I think they like it.

3. I have friends who love me, even when I'm a complete idiot and should be eaten by fire-weasles.

4. I have a furry little monster who loves me, and who lays with me when I'm sad, and makes me laugh.

5. I have an ever expanding collection of fuzzy, smooshy yarn to play with, and my skills are expanding rapidly.

6. I have people around me who seem to have no problem helping me expand the above mentioned stash, either through financial backing or enabling.

7. I have clothes on my back and enough food in the cupboard that I will never starve.

8. I have to give away clothes that are too small now, because even though it means I've gained weight, it means that I've been able to eat and discover a lot of yummy food this year (even food I can't afford)!

9. I have clothes that I can afford to give away.

10. For the last year, I have been able to suffer thorugh whatever this mess inside me is, without having to go without shelter, food or clothing because of Employment Insurance.

11. Dude, no matter what you say about it: UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. I = thankful.

12. The fact that I can open my laptop and be connected instantly to my friends and family, no matter where they are.

13. Coffee. :)

14. The fact that everyone around me is doing ok, and if they weren't, we, as a family, would rally around and make sure that everything got taken care of.

And lastly:

15. There's this guy in my life. He makes me laugh, and he makes me nuts sometimes. He has allowed me to not be homeless for the last year, and has let me/helped me work through the nonsense. He has made me laugh until I've cried, and he's taught me things I would never have known about, like Baseball. He's held onto me when I've cried, even though I can't tell him why, sometimes because I don't even know why, and he's never judged or gotten frustrated or cowered from it. He loves my cat, and takes care of her when I'm away, which is very important, and he's put up with my yarn-crazy, animal-crazy, and just my regular crazy. And to top it all off, he put a ring on my finger and said he wants to keep doing it for the rest of our lives.

And I'm thankful for him most of all.

No comments: