Thanksgiving

As a mom, there are lots of things that I worry about.  I worry about my girls becoming slaves to electronics, about them watching endless hours of Fuller House and obsessing over whether DJ will choose Matt or Steve to be her boyfriend.  I worry about them doing well at school, if they remember their manners when I'm not there, if they are kind to others.  I worry about them eating too much sugar and getting cavities from not brushing well.  I worry that they don't get enough sleep, that they argue too much and won't grow up to love each other.  And then there's the serious stuff to worry about.  Freak accidents, crazy people, rare diseases.  You get the picture.  

And just when you're about to wave the white flag and surrender to doing the parenting thing all wrong, Thanksgiving rolls around and gives you a chance to slow down and truly remind yourself of how good you actually have it. Because when I look a little closer, many of the things I worry about are worries of indulgence.  Too much of this and too much of that.  And my concerns, although real to me, need to be checked every now and again and put into their rightful place.

Because for as much as I sweat the small, day to day stuff, I have to take a look around and acknowledge that our Thanksgiving was spent with my parents.  We cooked a turkey dinner together with all the trimmings. We laughed and toasted each other as we watched the snowy blizzard that was happening outside from the warmth and comfort of the house.  And to take that for granted would be completely disrespectful to all the peeps in my life who have lost their parents and those who aren't able to be with their parents and to the kids who don't have the luxury of healthy, capable and loving grandparents.

Due to the blizzard like conditions and the enormous snow fall, we spent most of Thanksgiving day without any power in the house.  It likely couldn't have happened on a better day.  What better day than Thanksgiving to lose power and give us a humble reminder of the many luxuries that we do take for granted.  Although the power was out for most of the day and the house was starting to get a little cold, I knew deep down that we didn't really have anything to worry about.  That Hydro guys were out working hard to get it restored and that we could always go to town where the power was still working.  Because we have privilege, I get the luxury of worrying about the small stuff. The privilege of a loving family, food in the cupboards, and a peaceful country.  Every once in a while its good to check our privileges so that we can remind ourselves that the small stuff is really and truly just small stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving.