Thankful

Greetings, faithful readers! (All four of you... lol.)

(Actually, apparently my aunt also follows my blog, so I guess she counts as an unofficial fifth reader. So there you go.)

Anyway... Happy Thanksgiving!

I happen to be celebrating Thanksgiving in a fairly less-than-traditional way-- my parents are out of town, celebrating their anniversary, so my dear, darling aforementioned aunt offered to allow me to stay at her condo for the weekend-- God bless her-- so I have been able to have a nice Thanksgiving.

Not that I'm upset that my parents are out of town-- I'm very happy for them, actually. I'm glad that they are able to still go off on random trips to continue their strong relationship. But I'm glad I was able to have a nice Thanksgiving with some family, at any rate.

That brings us to the universal theme of this post-- thankfulness. In case you haven't followed my everyday life, THS's choir actually sang a version of Josh Groban's "Thankful" at our senior concert last year, which is a very moving song. For your sake, I'll post an excerpt of the lyrics:

Somedays, we forget to look around us
Somedays, we can't see the joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we pray for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

I never quite understood the meaning of this song while I was singing it during my penultimate senior concert. Now that I've become more immersed and started to grasp the fact that I'm a senior and am leaving a major part of my life behind soon (GOOD GOD, HOWARD), it really rings true. There are parts of my life that are really little things that I shouldn't be worrying about, and so many things I take for granted. When the THS Vocal Jazz Ensemble picked this up randomly one day a few weeks ago and brought it back, it truly spoke to me... despite the fact that the song itself was a bit rusty... :)

But anyway, I'm very thankful for everything that I've had the privilege to have. Even if my Thanksgiving is a little unorthodox, I realize that I should be thankful for everything I have in my life-- my family, friends, and life in general. I'm extremely privileged, and I don't think I should only look at that one day a year. I should have daily reflections of the fortune in my life, especially on those days when IB and my stressful schedule are weighting me down.

And on that note, I think I'll have another slice of pumpkin pie. :D