With thanks.

On this Thanksgiving in particular, I am especially thankful. When you become aware that we are all on borrowed time, every moment and every breath is treasured and cherished. Instead of rushing a conversation or visit to go elsewhere, I choose to savour each minute with loved ones.

We got to talking about aging last night, and how when you see someone all the time, you don't realize they are slowly getting older day by day. All of a sudden, we all remarked how old Don Cherry looked and it struck me that in an egocentric society built around such a rapid pace of life and awareness of self, how little we pay attention to the slow signs of aging, until one day, you look at someone and realize they are 70 years old.

I myself have always felt like I lived in a time machine in the sense that days blend into months which melt into years and before I know it, I see a teenager who I last saw when they were 5 years old, and wondered how the heck that transformation happened. I sometimes fail to realize that while everyone else is turning a year older, so am I. There are times when, at the age of 34, I feel more like 60 and there are other times when my soul feels as young as a tween.

I'm often reminded of my rank on the age spectrum. For example, my husband commented that I've been working for 10 years and I thought to myself, it seemed like an awfully longer time than that...and then I did the math. I had two jobs at the age of 14, so that in fact has meant that I have worked for the past 20 years. I've had my Royal Bank chequing account for 19 years and I've had car insurance for 15 years. It's been almost 20 years since I've been in high school and 15 since I started University. I've been with Michael for 3 years and the days literally just fly by.

Back to the present, I am grateful for so much. I'm thankful first and foremost to be alive and healthy. I'm thankful to have a wonderful husband with a beautiful soul. I am thankful to have two amazing mothers and stepfathers who are all different yet equally important to us. I am thankful for wonderful friends; both old and new alike. I am thankful for such a huge extended family amongst the Drysdale/Gaddye/Carson/Rees clans. We have been blessed with so much this past year and are extremely grateful for it all but when we go to bed at night and say our prayers, we truly thank God every night for each other, our health, our safety and our family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and your families. Treasure each moment and hold captive the memories of today and tomorrow, for it is inevitable that we will all get older and catch a glimpse of our reflection in the mirror and wonder how time escaped us so quickly.

With love and with thanks,

Wendy