Thanks.

Last week I woke up feeling a little un-thankful.  It was Thanksgiving and I was here in Calgary, alone…until I went to work…then I was surrounded by strangers.  I suppose I was thankful to leave my house that was just a little filthy and full of cats who apparently don’t stop meowing when their owner goes home for the holidays.  My insides felt less thankful than I had hoped.  I kind of really just wanted to be closer to home, my grandma was in the hospital and the memory that last year around this time, my dad’s mom passed away, made a hospital visit just a little too real.  Then I stopped to think about just this past year…and realized, I am so thankful.  So blessed. 

Last year at this time I was hiking mountains to see one of the oldest churches in China, to see something that, in almost every other area was torn down during the revolution, but because we were in such a remote place, I assume the soldiers didn’t want to hike straight up a mountain for four hours…so it survived.  And that’s just one story, from one month.  This past year gave me an incredible number of stories, incredible experiences, incredible friendships, incredible adventures, with so much incredible-ness…I can’t really not be thankful.

This week in a group meeting we were talking, five of us, all graduating within the year (…me in just over two months!), and the subject came up on how old we were…three of the five of us are 20 or under…and they are about to graduate.  That blew my mind, when I was 19 I just arrived home from a year in rural China, when I was twenty I was spending all my free time at the rink, or on a bus…living the dream of playing hockey every day.  I can’t imagine graduating at the age of 20 with the goal of launching into a career to put a down payment on that condo downtown.  Ridiculous. 

I’m thankful that I have been given so many opportunities, and that I’ve had the balls to take them.  I felt kind of ridiculous feeling un-thankful, because holy wow, I have been so blessed.  I have had doors open for me to pursue my passions.  I’ve seen the longest river in Southeast Asia, I climbed the Great Wall (again :)), I was in the Arctic Circle, was laid-over in Siberia, saw one of the biggest Ice-Festivals in the world.  Spoke to kids and adults about Who makes me tick and why love is so important in China…in their language, I thought I was going to die..at least 10 times, I ate copious amounts of delicious noodles and bought fresh flowers weekly, I lived my dream, His dream, the dream. 

Now I’m back in Canada, where I got to spend time with my amazing family before I headed off to school.  Thankful.  My brother and his wife are having a baby (soon!). Thankful.  I got to see Brian for a couple hours…in real life. Thankful.  I found a place to rent for my last semester in school. Thankful.  I have awesome parents who taught me about the really important things in life.  Thankful.  I know it’ll all be okay.  Thankful.