Early Thanksgiving Morn

Gobble Gobble
yummmmmmmm


my bird is cooking, and the way the house smells is exactly how you remember it smelling when you woke up so many years ago.

The Macy's Day parade is on the TV..and the 2nd pot of coffee is made.

I'm an early riser daily, but really early this day...I still feel the anticipation of a Holiday in the same way i did as a child except now?? Now, I love the giving more than the receiving.

I'm thankful for my warm house...the man that provides it, the baby, now seven years old.. who has never given up the habit of waking and making her way into our bed and snuggling up to her daddy.

I'm Thankful for the huge pit group in the livingroom. Although we do have a guest room, everyone opts to stay in the comfort of a couch that wraps you up in great sleep.

Currently, it is occupied by two young adults.

One of them I birthed, something that is hard to imagine when you look at his 6'4"- 250 pound- size 13 shoes wearing frame. He has a tattoo across his bicep, honoring those he loves and has lost, and a diamond earring that glints at me in the candlelight. An ironic mixture of youth and adulthood.

He snores, loudly, and as I'm gazing at him, the mommy takes over in me and makes a mental note to start naggin him about getting the obvious apnea looked at within the next few weeks, while the deductible is met.

Snuggled head to head to him...his woman. One of the additions to family that happen without the labor, but is just as precious.

She seems to be a little irritable in her sleep. Probably because of the snoring, and the fact that a dog keeps jumping up to join her...... but maybe, just maybe because of that other situation.

The baby. This woman/child who started out to be 'the girlfriend' currently houses my first grandbaby.

She's beautiful and they are going to handle this just fine...but I can't help but notice that in addition to diesel the dump dog...she also is sleeping with a teddy. The build-a-bear that her and gabe made in anticipation of parenthood.

*sigh*

My babies.

My baby is having a baby and this Thanksgiving has an ENTIRELY new and wonderful meaning for me.

The weather has been the same as my life. I drove downtown yesterday marveling at the 76 degree temp. and the beauty of the 100 year old trees brilliantly showing their fall colors as it can only happen in the ozarks.
In the background lies a huge ominous tornado cloud, spouting huge lightning bolts and their ensuing drumrolls.

A torrential rain began, and I watched it from the Tahoe, waiting for it to subside enough for me to run my errand. I waited a longgggg time but not with anxiousness. It was a calming break to a hectic work day. Rain is awesome.

As I drove back to work I shivered and took notice of newly formed chicken-skin, and had to hunt up the heater function of the truck. We rarely use it.

The temp had dropped to 54 in that 1/2 hour, and all those beautiful leaves were now floating down the white-water current that used to be the street....and the majestic trees that held them stand stark naked in the cold.

The temperature this Thanksgiving dawn is about 30 degrees and there are a few little snowflakes flurrying around in the crisp morning air.

Instant winter.
Instant family.
Life changes like that..in the blink of an eye.

It's easy to get bogged down with that fact, and mire in the changes we don't want to happen.
Sometimes they are cruely unfair.
Sometimes youth is stopped the second you experience your first death.
Sometimes adulthood begins the day you find out your pregnant
and most of us know how devistating and long-lasting the ravages of divorce.

But Today? Today we have been granted a fresh start. A chance to embrace change.

Enjoy every second you can.

Appreciate every leaf, every raindrop, every snowflake...and every change in your life.

That IS life....
The continuing miracle of Change.

Happy Thanksgiving