Being Thankful

Well, it’s back to the grind today. For us Canadians, we just celebrated Thanksgiving.  Days of turkey, family, fun and eventual laziness consume our three day weekend and we love it all.  Thanksgiving is our universal sign that summer is behind us, Halloween is just around the corner, and (for us crazy people- myself included) we get to start thinking about Christmas!

Of course one of the major things included in Thanksgiving, is that we start counting our blessings and remembering what we are most thankful for. Boy did I get a reminder of one of those things last night.

Unless you were living off the grid you have probably been tracking Hurricane Matthew. Its devastation rattled hundreds of thousands of people, and their entire lives were altered or destroyed.  Fortunately, for us in Canada, over the weekend we were able to pray for those people and be grateful that our lives were still unaffected.  We expected some rain as a result of the hurricane but nothing much more than that.

I hate even addressing Hurricane Matthew and this next topic in the same post, but it really is an eye opener of how lucky we are to have what we have, and how dependent we are on these privileges. And you know what?  That’s okay.

As a kid, I always loved it when the power went out. We had a fire place where we roasted marshmallows, we played outside on the big tree that blew down in the neighborhood and we got to have roasted hotdogs for breakfast.  As an adult, and especially as a PARENT, that love has ridiculously diminished!

I depend on electricity and technology. I depend on it A LOT.

First of all, I am sitting here at a computer, sipping hot coffee, checking my emails and browsing Twitter. HELLO!  How fortunate am I?!  And you know what?  I never really realize it until it is taken away from me.

We had a lot more wind and rain than expected yesterday and ended up with several dangerous washouts on our roadways, flooding in our yards and some of our basements and of course, no power. I was PISSED.  We managed to get through our turkey dinner but here is what was going through my head as soon as the power went out:

“OMG Lux is going to be terrified! She usually sleeps with a fan and has her little light on from the monitor.  She has none of that tonight!  She is going to be up ALL night!  The dishes didn’t get done!  How am I going to get ready for work in the morning?  How am I going to straighten my hair?!  I’ll have to wash my face with COLD water!  The clothes in the dryer are still damp, OF COURSE.  God and I’m so bored with no TV or Netflix.”

 This is what our lives are now; totally dependent on technology and power. When it does go out, I always take a moment to picture what it must have been like to live with none at all, ever.  Don’t get me wrong, I love going out to our camp and living off the grid for a day or two.  But that’s just it.  It’s a day or two.  I know that I can come home to a house with all of the perks.  I guess what I am saying is that this Thanksgiving really gave me a lot to be thankful for.  We didn’t just sit around the table and share what we were thankful for, but we were given a little unexpected hurtle to get through just to keep us on our toes.

Whoever is listening up there, thank you! My family thanks you.  I’m sure my husband REALLY thanks you because I am such a lunatic when we lose power!

I am looking forward to having power back again, but I am grateful that we have the luxury of knowing that it WILL eventually come back on and that we are all going to be just fine. We can’t get judged for depending on all of these things, though.  After all, we are what created these things and we should be damn proud!  I guess Mother Nature just thought we needed a little reminder of how lucky we truly are.

Good call, mama. Good call.

xx

P.S., Lux slept fine last night. Go figure.

 

Lux’s First Apple Biting Contest- Thanksgiving Weekend 2016