Today is Thanksgiving and everyone I know is excited to be with their families and anticipating the holiday meal that will fill them a little later in the day. But I am not.
For the last week I found myself dreading today. I'm not good with major holidays normally anyway. Well, that's not exactly right. I LOVE holidays, but they usually serve as a reminder of how much I miss my mom, and I tend to let that simmer all day while I go on with my otherwise happy, family filled holiday. It doesn't ruin the day, but it does dull the sparkle a little, I guess. So, with that in addition to being alone today, I didn't foresee myself being thankful for much of anything.
Every year preceding this I spent the day with my brother, his wife and my beautiful nieces. But they split up last year. Today my nieces are spending the day with their mom and my brother will be eating turkey with the family of his new girlfriend (who, by the way, is awesome.). They invited me to join them, which was so kind, but I declined. I'm sure her family is amazing, but they are strangers and I would have felt that I was intruding.
Pants left last night to join her family out of town, and Honey Bunny lives an hour away and is spending the day with his little bunnies and the rest of his wonderful, ginormous family.
So, I am not alone today because I have no friends or family or no where to go. I am alone today because of...
THE MALL
(dun dun duuuunnnnnn...)
I work part time at a store in the mall selling lotion and teaching people to take care of their skin (which is very important). And today my mall, like so many other stores, malls, and shopping centers around the country is opening at FREAKIN' MIDNIGHT! So, having to be at work at 11:30 tonight sort of put the kibosh on going out of town to spend the holiday with loved ones. Stupid mall.
If I'm honest, though, I will not be completely alone today anyway. One of my best girlfriends, whose family doesn't get together to celebrate holidays very often, is joining me for brunch at Mimi's Cafe, and then we're going to see The Muppets, and I'm super freakin' excited about that! She will probably also drag me to that damnable Twilight movie, which I am not super freakin' excited about, but I will sit through it complaint free, because that is how much I love her.
So, today, a day on which I expected to be mopey and ever so woe-is-me, I find myself... OK. Not necessarily happy, but OK. But that's cool. And you know what? Today might just turn out to be awesome. You never know.
I also find myself being genuinely thankful for the things I have:
I am thankful to have a best friend to miss today, and that she gets to see her family, which doesn't happen often enough. I am thankful for my out of this world amazing boyfriend and his wonderful family who would have welcomed me into their home today had I been able to be there. I am thankful for my friend who is spending the day with me and that she loves me enough to get up early and go to brunch with me on a day when she is kid-free and could actually sleep in. And that she knows I love her enough to go see that horrible movie with her. I am thankful for my other incredible friend who is picking me up from the mall at 3:30 in the morning tomorrow, because THAT is true friendship. I am thankful that my nieces get to spend a holiday with their mom. I'm thankful that my brother found someone who loves him so much and makes him so very happy. Hell, I'm even thankful to have a part time job at the mall to complain about. I'm also thankful for the text messages, Facebook wall messages, and anything else I may receive today wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving that remind me that I have countless friends who are thinking of me even if we don't see each other very often.
It looks like today really will be awesome after all. :)
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