I tip-toe back to the blog and ask you to forgive me for being gone for so long! I have had a really busy year (who hasn’t, right?), but I miss the blog and want to get back in the swing of things. Call it an early New Years resolution.

Anyway, today’s post is all about my favorite time of year. The time of year when we gather with friends and family over good food and fun to talk about the things for which we are grateful. My heart always grows a little warmer during the Thanksgiving holidays because I start to think about all the positive vibes that we are sending out into the world, collectively, as an entire nation gives thanks for what they have. The origin of the holiday is not my favorite story, but is this even what Thanksgiving is about anymore? To me, it’s a time to remember that we should be grateful for the things we have – the people, the love, the pets, the help, the support, and yes, even our actual stuff. It doesn’t matter if you have a lot or if you have a little, there is always a reason to say thanks.

This is also my birthday season. I was born on Thanksgiving Day in 1983 in California. I can’t imagine how fun it was for my dad to eat Thanksgiving dinner at a hospital or for my mom to be going through a birth on the holiday, but I’m glad they did! I remember when I was a little girl and my family would stick candles in a pumpkin pie and sing me happy birthday. I hated it then. I cried, I pouted, and I wanted a cake so that it was all about me. But that was then and I have come a long way. Now, I would love a pumpkin pie for my birthday cake – I don’t even like most cake anymore! And I love sharing my birthday with such a wonderful, heartfelt holiday.

This year I am turning 29. It will be my last year in my 20s and I can’t believe how time has gone by so fast. It seems like not that long ago that I was telling people who asked that I was in my early twenties and thinking that 30 sounded old. I imagined a lot of things that I would have accomplished by now, but one thing you learn as you grow older is that life plans and timelines don’t really mean a lot in the end. They sound nice when you make them up and they give you a sense of your goals, but anyone who’s tried to do that knows that the world just doesn’t work that way most of the time. I’m not married, I don’t have kids. I don’t have my Master’s degree or a booming business that I run full time, I don’t make as much money as I’d like, I haven’t traveled as much as I’d hoped, and I’m not as skinny as I was in college. But what I am is happy, content, grateful, and confident. Time doesn’t bring you lots of silly things you don’t need or make things happen at the time you had thought they should, but it does bring a lot of lessons. It teaches us to be strong, to learn what really matters, and to understand ourselves on a level that our teenage and college selves didn’t quite understand.

So yes, I’m in my last year of my 20s and I’m not scared. I know now that 30 is young and that timelines are frivolous. And I know that the paths I’ve taken have brought me to a place with great family, wonderful friends, true love, and 2 dogs that bring me joy every day. Nothing on my timeline is where I thought it would be, but I don’t care. I threw that out long ago and exchanged it for happiness. And for this, I am grateful.

Have a wonderful week, say thank you to the universe or God or your lucky stars for what you have, and be encouraged by the fact that many, many others will be saying thanks with you, and the world will be a better place for that – at least for one week.