Thanksgiving is less than a week away. This means that for the last few weeks the internet has been flooded with gratitude.  Finally.  It’s actually kind of nice to think that overnight we have come to realize that we really do have things we are grateful for.

Most are grateful for similar things, family and friends, a new job, good health, and there are always the realists who admit they are more than grateful for the new iPhone X, or the newest MAC lip color at Nordstrom. Some live for Black Friday sales and while us non-shoppers scratch our heads, we are all particular to our simple pleasures too. Me?

I’m just grateful I’m not a turkey.

It’s not rocket science, and I probably don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty, but let me enlighten you just for a moment.

I don’t want to be gobbling around the barnyard just to end up on the dinner table. A turkey goes though life without really knowing his outcome.   I have things to do, and things to say.  I guess I am just not done yet, and I want to live a long and purposeful life.   I believe I can be in charge of my own decisions. Maybe not my destiny, but my journey…that’s up to me.  I do know life can get in the way, and yet… that breathes the same point, doesn’t it?

I don’t like to be the center of attention…ever.   A turkey is placed on the table at thanksgiving with all the oohs and ahhs we have all come to love.  I get that. I just don’t need that.  I prefer to walk gracefully through life knowing my own pedestal is in my heart.  I don’t think you have to know how wonderful I am, wink, you just have to be lucky enough to let me show you how wonderful you are. I think life is more purposeful when it glances back at you for all the right reasons.

I don’t want to be described as lean and juicy OR dried up. I want to be defined through my character and I want to know the character of those who surround me. While I believe life is about the people you meet along the way, I still want to be able to stand on my own two feet in this journey.  So… don’t  assume I want to be paired with mashed potatoes, cranberries, or stuffing either.   I am strong , I am smart, I am what I love…to me.

I don’t want a man walking around the house strutting his feathers.   There is no room for show-offs and arrogance.  Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, and do what is  nice because it’s the nice thing to do.   That is all. Character matters.

I don’t want to be too chubby to fly.   I like to travel and I almost always have another trip planned before the new trip is done,  so to be comfortable in my own skin matters.   Experience tells me to let health, laughter and integrity radiate from me.  They make great travel partners too.

PS. I do know wild turkeys can fly.

It’s all in good fun and even more entertaining to find perspective in the irony of other things.  The truth is there is only one thing I think we are unanimously grateful for.  Everything in life is relative to that gift of time I always talk about.  It captures memories, comforts grief, remembers loss, and cultivates the sentiment that we all embrace this week. Gratitude.

Thank you for the time you bless me with. Happiest of Thanksgivings.

Donna

The Daily Post: Strut Gratitude ParticularEnlighten