No Turkey. No Dressing. No Problem.

-Alright. Today is Thanksgiving 2011.
I'm not committing gluttony on pounds of turkey, gravy or pecan pie (I typed puh-con, not pee-can) this year. Or watching the Macy's Day Parade. Or taking my turn at the table saying what I'm most thankful for. Those things are like hunting pastel eggs on Easter, opening up overstuffed stockings on Christmas morning and getting smashed on July 4th- we all do it but it has nothing to do with the holiday itself.

-So another year home alone for this holiday, I'm trying not to focus on the fact that I'm not washing down my sister's famous green bean casserole with a big glass of iced tea, and focus instead on the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
>Over the years the literal meaning of the Thanksgiving celebration has dramatically changed. No, we don't celebrate the year's awesome harvest with a giant stuff-yo-face-barf-repeat feast, but the age-old tradition of being thankful for our many blessings is still there.  Hopefully.

-I, for one, have an infinite list of things to be thankful for this year.
>The cherry on top is the fact that it was important to my parents to teach me about God. We weren't front and center every single Sunday, we didn't always say grace before meals and we sho nuff didn't carry Bibles in our back pockets. Not that those things define you as a person of faith- not what I'm saying. My parents sent me to church camp every summer- some of the best times of my childhood. Had my parents not told me about Jesus and His love, I would've had to find Him on my own- who knows how long that would've taken. Every good thing in my life- He put there. Every person in my life- He put there. Even my old, lung-hacking, mean as all get out neighbor- God gave him to me for some reason. All my experiences and memories- God allowed me to have. Without Him, well...I wouldn't even be here today writing this, but without him in my life....that's just a scary thought. I keep seeing the same saying every time I'm on Pinterest- "What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" True, right?   I thank God every day for the blessings in my life- who/where would I be without those things/people?
>Nine years ago this month I was almost taken from this Earth- just a few days before Thanksgiving. I am thankful each year to be here celebrating another Thanksgiving- be it by myself or with 10,000 people, I'M HERE! And I'm thankful- not just on the 4th Thursday of every November, but each day.
>At the end of my freshman year of high school my dad got orders for the first time in 18 years to move. We were nothing short of devastated. We'd lived in the same town forever. That night we went to church to meet up with our pastor seeking some comfort and encouraging words. He had something to say for each of us about how this move would bring positive changes into our lives. When it was my turn he said a few things, but the only thing that really stuck in my 14-year old head was, "...and who knows, Rebecca, you may meet the love of your life in Alabama." "Ewe," "Yuck," "Gross," and "Rednecks!" were the only thoughts I could muster! As luck would have it, I DID meet the love of my life in Alabama. And far from "redneck" was he! It was his first time in the States- we actually met just a week or so after he got there. I was 18, he was 21. It was just...supposed to be. I thank God every day for this man! He is, hands down, the most amazing person I've ever met in my life. (I'm totally bawling right now!) I said once if I could be like anyone in the world, I'd be just like him. It hurts to breathe when I think about how much I love him. I hope to never, ever, ever take him for granted. Every little girl dreams of growing up and being a princess and meeting her prince charming. Well, I'm sorry little girls...Prince Charming is taken! :)
I am grateful to infinity and beyond for my husband/partner/soul mate/best friend/baby-daddy. (Sorry, I had to throw baby-daddy in there, it was getting too serious.)
>I am out of words to express how thankful I am for our little angel, Junior Gator Chittlin' Frank. We aren't announcing his name until his birth...so as you can imagine he has acquired many nicknames in the mean time. Poor baby. Some people just call their baby-in-waiting "peanut" or "bean" or...hell, I don't know...anything but "Gator" or "Chittlin'." Anyway, we tried for 10 months to get pregnant and thankfully after only 10 months were referred to a fertility specialist. Turns out I have real lazy ovaries, or something known as PCOS. So, for me, getting pregnant without any help is like playing Russian Roulette. One day I'll bore the socks off of you and blog more about this. Everyone talks about the love you'll have for your children as something indescribable. Unmeasurable. A love unlike anything you've ever felt before. Well, no convincing needed here- I can't put ol' Gator Chittlin's 3D ultra sound pictures down for longer than a half hour. I am so obsessed with this little boy and he's not even here yet. Better yet, I am THANKFUL for the precious little angel we have been blessed with. Now hurry up and get here, Ol' Frank!
>My family.  My crazy, dysfunctional, wonderful, beautiful family.  Family is strange.  God chooses a group of people for you and calls them your "family."  These people will hurt and piss you off worse than anyone else in the world.  At the end of the day, they're still your family.  You better love these people (even if it needs to be from a distance) because they're God's (non-refundable, non-returnable, non-exchangeable) gift to you, as you are to them.  And you don't treat gifts from God as trash.  You cherish them, and are THANKFUL for them.  I have a few family members that I'm not exactly.....close with.  But I ain't gonna lie, sometimes I just want my family.  Every one of them.  Drama and all.  I just want to see them, hug them, be with them.  At least once a week, I just want to crawl (with my big pregnant arse) in my moms lap and have her rub my back.  I wanna be spoiled by mom, cut up with my sisters, roll on the carpet with my nieces.  Great, now I'm a freakin' mess again.
>While I was just getting myself back together, my father-in-law called.  Which brings me to my next point.  My awesome, amazing in-laws.  Seriously, there cannot be any sweeter in-laws than mine!  I have a great relationship with both of Reesh's parents.  Since the day I decided to move here they have been fully supportive of everything in our lives.  I know so many other people who are way less fortunate than I am with their in-laws, and it's such a pity.  God has blessed me with TWO families.  How awesome is that?  Very thankful for my family-in-love. :)
>My amigos.  How would we survive this world without friends?  Unlike our families, we can choose these folks.  Some come and go, some will stay a lifetime.  Some are just good for having a good time, some you can trust your life with.  Either way, we'd go crazy with no friends.  So I am very thankful for the people God has put in my life to keep me company.  8:00-5:00 can be a long time when you're not working, hahaha.  OH!  Speaking of friends.  I've got a girlfriend, Red.  I got to see her for the first time in like 7 years last month while I was back in the States.  She's a strong woman of God and lives her life accordingly.  When I saw her last she went on and on about wanting to become a mom, but wasn't sure if it was her "time" yet or not.  But I could hear the pain in her voice- she really wanted to be pregnant.  All the while, she WAS pregnant and just didn't know it yet.  Yesterday she had her first OB appointment and got to see her precious little miracle already at only 8 weeks.  Today her and her husband are making the big announcement to the family.  God is good.  And seeing my friend so happy does my heart good.  Love you, Red.  You and sweet baby G.R. :)))
On another friend note, I was supposed to be all alone today.  I had a lunch date planned for tomorrow, but my girlfriend called me and rescheduled for this afternoon!  Cha-ching!  I didn't tell her right away how excited I was, but I let her know today over lunch.  Which btw, I did prepare with a bit of sliced deli turkey meat.  Woot woot!  So, after all I was not as pathetic today as I had anticipated.  Thank you, God, for my friends. :)
>Another thing I'm very thankful for is Reesh's job.  In today's day and time, we're lucky he even has a job.  He LOVES his job!  LOVES IT!  Had it not been for his job, we would have never met. (Or would we have....I go back and forth on this question.)  Either way, it sure helped!  His job supports our family- we have a roof over our heard, clothes on our back and food on the table, and THAT is enough to be thankful for. 

-Aside from these things (and they weren't intentionally set in any order) there's about a million materialistic things I'm thankful for.....but those aren't nearly as important.
I hope anyone reading this (if anyone is....cricket cricket...) takes the time, not just today but everyday, to remember to be thankful for all that you have- even if you don't think it's much.

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!