THANKFUL

Thanksgiving again – I can hardly believe it. It feels like just yesterday I was dreaming dreams about 2015, and now here we are at the near end of it. If I had to choose one word for this crazy whirlwind of a year-that-hasn’t-felt-like-a-year, it would be “Thankful”. Thankful for my parents. Growing up, their tough love always felt like a burden – a weight that kept me tethered to the ground. But as I’ve become an adult, I am now able to see it as the very reason behind my drive – the fuel behind my passion. Now, I am able to see it as what it always was: love.

I’m thankful for my friends. 2015 has been a year of learning the true definition of the word “Friendship”, and I am ever so grateful for the ones who have stuck around to teach me.

I’m thankful for where I am in this crazy career, and for every person who has worked and provided and believed in me enough to get me to this point. But I’m simultaneously thankful that my career does not define me. That at the end of the day, it is just a career – and with or without it, I am whole.

I’m thankful for my church. Three years later and it finally feels like home. It took digging my feet in, getting uncomfortable, and giving back, but it has been well-worth the effort. I’m so lucky to be a part of a church rooted in the gospel and passionate about loving our city in a real and deep way. I am so blessed.

I’m thankful for all the little things too: for a bed that feels like heaven, for my kitties who run to greet me at the end of a long day, for ice cream and pie and avocados and chips and goat cheese and fig jam and bacon, for how my list just became half food items and you (hopefully) didn’t judge me, for art, for music, for flowers, for mountains, for twinkle lights, for shoes, for rain, and for every little thing that makes me laugh. There’s so much in this world that is maddeningly sad, and I believe in working tirelessly towards the pursuit of justice. But life is also made better by all these glimpses of joy, and I am grateful for each and every one of them.

I hope your Thanksgiving is lovely and warm and filled with hugs and laughs and pie. I hope you have things to be thankful for, and I hope they lift you up. Oh and a big thanks to YOU for reading and supporting this Little Bee this past year. You guys are such champs, and I’ve got nothing but love for you.