Good Morning and a happy and hearty Thanksgiving Day to all of you who oblige me with reading this blog.

I’ve found it interesting and curious that as the years pass, the things we’re thankful for take a drastic turn, oft-times carrying a more somber tone.  When I was younger, I was thankful for my toys, my pony and every other manner of thing that now, decades later, doesn’t seem significant enough – although the pony still makes it on the important list.  I’m much more thankful now for those things that are more abstract, less material in nature and infinitely more important.

My natural curiosity has led me to research things I’ve always been told were “true”.  This includes the origins of today’s Holiday.  I won’t launch into the list of fallacies we’re taught to believe regarding today, instead focusing on the meaning:  Being Thankful.

I’m thankful for my education and my intelligence.  With those two things, combined with my mom’s independent nature and teachings of being self-sufficient, I’ve been able to learn that I have the right to live my life on my terms.  I have to live my life being true to myself.  Living life on one’s own terms means many things to many people.  I made weighty decisions regarding things, such as religion, after much research and inner dialogue and I am better for it.

I’m thankful that I married my best friend, and that he can put up with my eclectic and oft-times exasperating personality.  He saw what I was like for five years and STILL wanted to marry me.  Then, I changed, as so many of us do, and yet, he’s still there for me.  I’m thankful for his steady demeanor and unflappable nature.  He makes me smile and laugh; two of the most important things for any relationship.  Life is too short to hang out with unhappy people.

I’m thankful for those people who come into my life, even those who have left.  Every one of them has taught me something about myself, about life or about human nature.  Some of those lessons have been heart-breaking, some have lifted my spirits, but in the end, I’m thankful for all of them.  Family.  Friends.  Friends who have become family.  Acquaintances.  You’re all appreciated.

I’m thankful that the opportunity to model was offered, accepted and continuing.  I’ve discovered much about myself, and have learned that all of the negative body-image messages I received in middle and high schools are not blanket statements.  It’s hard to stop hearing those negative taunts in my head, but I don’t hear them as often.  I’m infinitely thankful to those people in my life who are positive influences in that arena, both my husband and people who are dear friends.  Their words carry more weight than they will ever realize.  I can be a beautiful, nerdy geek!

I’m thankful that I am still alive.  I’ve dealt with heart issues for the last twenty years, and due to lack of information have always felt the ghost of my early, untimely demise floating in the shadows.  That spook scared me away from doing a lot of things that I wanted to do for a long time.  To that specter, I gave the international symbol of derision!  Screw you!  I’m not ready to go and I won’t be ready to go for a very long time.  I’m thankful that the rest of me is fairly healthy, despite my being accident and injury-prone; from stitches to Rabies shots, from ambulance rides to chiropractor visits, from ablations to EP studies where I scared the cardiologist to thinking she’d lose me on the table to cardiac arrest, I’m still here.  My life.  My terms.  Neener, neener, neener.

I’m thankful for my sunny personality.  I like being “Princess Sunbeam”.  I like being told to “tone down the joyfulness”.  I like that I’m a person who wants and needs to make people smile and laugh and feel good, even if I’m feeling down.  Life is too short to dwell for very long on the negative, there is always a bright side to every situation.

The list of things I’m thankful for is much longer… everything from being thankful that I have a roof over my head and food on the table, to being able to travel and see the world.  I have a tremendously full life and it continues to get more full with each passing month; and for that, I’m incredibly thankful.

And to those I have the privilege of sharing the traditional holiday meal with – see you soon!