Thanks, I needed that.

This morning the Huffington Post features a picture of a desperately sad divorced woman with her face in her palms clearly verklempt about the state of her life during the holiday season. What woman wouldn’t be desperate if she is husbandless? Fuck you Huffington Post.  Can I send you a stock photo of a woman clicking her heels in the air?  A lot of people have given me that look of pity this year.  More than one person has told me they are so happy not to be me, that my situation sucks and how bad I should feel.  Sure it’s a bummer I don’t have my kids on this holiday, or a house, or my three-legged cat, or a spouse that I share mad-love with…..but for all the things that I don’t have, there are many things that I am thankful for.

Sparky the Thanksgiving Turkey

Like:

• Healthy and happy little boys that make me laugh.
• Family that has come through with unmatched love, support and generosity. For giving me and my kids a safe place to live, money in my pocket, phone calls when I need them, and candy bars in my purse.
• The opportunity to have had a wonderful mother. A loving father and the good fortune to have an amazing and wise Stunt-Mother (stepmother) that loves me like a mother bear and doesn’t get mad when I use the “F-word”.
• Loyal friends that will give me house keys, storage space, a couch to sleep on, a tent to sleep in, an understanding ear and beer delivered to my porch.
• Control of my life, it’s direction and the people in it.
• The courageous women I know.
• The  faith that jeggings and animal hats are but a passing trend.
• A job at a wonderful place at the moment I needed it.  The cool people that work there.
• Doors that close and doors that open.
• A functioning and painless right arm with decent circulation and a dexterous middle finger.
• Laffy Taffy.
• Dr. Lu and Mindfulness training that helped me find clarity and see things for what they are and not what I wish they would be.
• For the birth parents and baby that just came into my friends family and heart.
• Coffee.
• Exterminating Angel Press, Tod Davies and her encouragement to write.
• Smelly Mel that made me write, the crazy redhead that makes me paint, sets my shit straight and packs an amazing car.
• The resurgence of interest in zombies in popular culture.
• For a trip across the ocean that introduced me to beautiful new friends and new ideas.
• People that read my stuff, no matter how bad it is.
• Ugly moments that reveal everything.
• WordPress is free.
• Cockroaches that show up at just the right moment.
• Giving up most everything and the new understanding of the difference between want and need.
• Good books.
• Google.

Zombie Bugs Eat Thanksgiving Dinner. A work in Bendaroos. Stewart-Reynolds-Keefer Art Co-operative 2011

I could go on and on, but it’s Thanksgiving morning.  I have things to do.  Things in the kitchen involving pie.  Things in the kitchen involving cranberries.  I get to go to work later.  There will be smart and wonderful people there with fast smiles and good hearts.  Families having babies and nurturing sick ones.  It is a place where I can ONLY be thankful.

Tagged: blogging, divorce, essays, health, Holidays, living, thansgiving, writing

Posted in: Articles, Food, Health