Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving Thanks

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It's the 3rd consecutive one I have spent away from home. 2 years ago, I ate my Turkey on top of a surfboard in San Diego, last year I was in Saigon, Vietnam anxiously awaiting the arrival of my best friend, Lily whom has since passed, and this year, I am in Australia, eating my bird and fixin's in the 85 degree heat in Australia with Mick...on Sunday, 3 days after the official holiday. I thought long and hard about what I was thankful for this year as we sat at our intimate plastic dinner table set for 2. Having visited places of extreme poverty, disease and famine, I am most obviously thankful for my finances, health and abundance, but what I am most extremely thankful for my faith in the world around me, and the cosmic coordination that has put me where I am today.
You see, my life has taken a series of interesting twists lately. Each and every object, person and opportunity that has come into my life has come at just the right time. I haven't needed anything that I couldn't get and I have managed to remain humble when gracious acts have been bestowed upon me, recognizing the higher power that lies beneath. There have been key players in my life including family, friends and complete strangers whom have laid the bricks for the pathway that I have so gratefully strode along.
This past weekend, Mick and I went to Airlie beach, a popular tourist/backpacker destination. We sat carelessly drinking Margaritas as we watched penny-pinching backpackers congregate on the lawn with their generic branded picnic lunches. That was us just 6 short weeks ago, and now, here we are, living it up! How we loved that life style of seeing how little money you can possibly survive on. Living in the back of a truck in constant search of free camping, good fishing spots and an information center complimentary shower. Working 10 hour days in the hot, humid Australian sun bent over all day planting trees and picking fruit. Having to cook dinner on the campfire and clean dishes with river water and sand when all we wanted to do was go to bed. Now we could afford to go out for sushi, drink at a bar and go back to an air conditioned bedroom complete with...get this, a bed! How grateful we were for these luxuries that seemed so unnecessary to us just 6 weeks ago. And then I think again, and thank my lucky stars.
I wish I could remember the cliche that goes along with this story, but it goes something like this:
Before you can appreciate what you have, you must realize what others don't.

You get the gist of it...