Even if you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, every day is a day to remember the good things in life even if they are scarce.
For some reason I seem to spend much of my time lately grumpy and bitching about the world and everything in it. People, products, prose never live up to my expectiations and I am constantly disappointed. Despite this, there are some fundamentals that I am ever thankful for and the first is kind of ironic but I am eternally thankful that I am grown up enough (spiritually) to realise that everything I said about my frame of mind is exactly that - MY frame of mind. I create those disappointments for myself, it's all my stuff and nothing will change about my grumbles and gripes unless I change. Why be thankful for this? Because it means that whilst I whinge and moan, I don't place blame or project my fears and insecurities on others, I own them for myself. An odd thing to be thankful of maybe, but I am.
Looking back over the last year the list of things to be thankful for grows exponentially. My son's renewed health - he's been in and out of hospital. My daughter's strength - she puts up with a lot living with me. Finding the GR community - you have no idea what a relief it is to discover I'm not the only person obsessed with Special Forces. Alongside that, and as a direct result of finding the Special Forces Group, I wrote my first solely MM fiction and people liked it. I'm thankful for every thoughtful review (even if they didn't love it), for every person that takes time out of their real life to read something I've crafted and especially for those that take the extra time to say 'thanks for writing'.
For some reason that I don't understand, but am truly thankful for, a group of writers took me under their wing and extended a hand of friendship and writing companionship. My work is fuller and more rounded because of them, for the time they take away from their own writing to critique and encourage mine, and for that I am thankful.
I am thankful, despite my grumpiness, for every breath and every second in this amazing world that I don't understand and for the opportunity to learn and grow and experience life. I am thankful for my faith that there is more to life than suffering, politics, money, birth and death. But most of all I am thankful for you, the hundreds, thousands and millions of unknown faces that participate in the world with me. And I am hopeful, that together, we will continue to make it a better place.
Let's dance in the rain, sing through the sorrow, be mindful of one another and find the joy in every moment.
x Casey K x
