With Thanksgiving right around the corner, people are cooking up way more food than is ever possibly needed, kids are enjoying time away from school (or in some cases using the opportunity to catch up on everything), and the question that seems to hang in the air is what you’re thankful for.
Thanksgiving is always a great reminder of what I should be thankful for. I have loving parents who are still married after over 30 years, a job that I love, enough money to get by and still (at least try) to save up for the future, the most amazing friends a person could ever ask for, and am getting healthier by the day.
However, Thanksgiving, in my family, is also a reminder of how lucky we are to have my father still with us. Nov. 27 will be the four year anniversary of the day my father had his kidney transplant. I was a junior in high school and my dad had been sick since I was in seventh grade, and nearly lost his life when I was just thirteen years old due to an infection and some far below average hospital care. But thanks to amazing doctors at a different hospital, and his youngest sister’s kidney, I still have my dad – one of my best friends – here with me.
Thanksgiving had always been a great reminder that I should be thankful for all that I have, but now the feeling has intensified with the reminder every year that it was around this time that our family changed forever, and for the better. My dad is healthier than he’s been ever been, minus a few complications that turned into blessings.
I took for granted how amazing my parents were until I nearly lost one of them. Growing up – my parents were always seen as invincible. But they’re not – and one day we’re going to lose them. And until then, we have to hold on to them with everything we have and appreciate them while they are still here.
While you’re thinking about all that you’re thankful for this semester, remind yourself of how lucky you are. There are so many less fortunate than me out there, and I consider myself extremely blessed for everything and everyone I have in my life.
Happy Thanksgiving.