Thanksgiving Thoughts

11/26/2019
​In the United States, Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to reflect on the year, and to give thanks for health, family, friends....really, anything! I had never experienced Thanksgiving until I moved to the US from Ireland, and initially it was strange. What was this weird holiday on a random Thursday in November? And so close to Christmas! What about this bizarre food? 

Now, I love Thanksgiving. I like that it focuses on gratitude and appreciating life's gifts, without the commercialism of Christmas. I also like that it is secular, and not belonging to any one religion.

This year, I am grateful for my wonderful clients. It is very difficult practicing immigration law under the current administration, but my clients understand this and appreciate my work.

I am thankful that I am really healthy and can still run, cycle, and do yoga, even if I get injured more than I used to ;)

I am always grateful for my close family, especially this year. My beloved nephew died in an accident in Texas in February, aged 21. It stunned us all and left a 6 1/2 foot hole in my heart. I am immensely thankful that his parents (my sister and her husband) are coping with the loss so well. They are heart-broken, of course, but they and their two daughters honor Mark's memory as he would have wished - seizing life, loving each other, and still laughing...just not as much as when he was here. I am awed by their strength.

I hope that life has given you something to be thankful for this year.

Mark and me in Dallas, September 2019