Tag / thankful

by Ricardo Sanchez

Thankful

I was born in Mexico and migrated to the United States in 1996. Thanksgiving was not something we celebrated in my hometown. I wasn’t even aware of what it meant until much later. Eventually, I thought of it as the “turkey” holiday and a day when we had the opportunity to be thankful.

Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia. I learned about this from a Wikipedia article. It began as a day of giving thanks for the harvest’s blessings and the preceding year.

It’s been twenty-six years since I immigrated to the United States, so I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving 26 times, and I can say that this holiday is truly extraordinary. I am very thankful for my life, my family, and our health and luck. Of course, not everything is perfect, but everything is far from horrible, and I am thankful for that.

Thanksgiving is now the perfect opportunity to take some time from our busy lives, pause for a moment, think of the things we can be grateful for, and enjoy a meal with family and friends – if possible.

I dearly hope you all have the same opportunity I have to celebrate this holiday, and please accept a virtual hug from me. I am also thankful for you and for your family. Finally, I am grateful that this world exists, the people, nature, and everything that makes it so special and unique.

Happy Thanksgiving, and cheers to you all!

Fall leaves on train tracks
by Ricardo Sanchez

Thankful

I am thankful. But there is something special about this time of the year, the warm colors, the reds, oranges, and yellows of the leaves, the colder temperatures, it’s all perfect to feel the beauty and experience of nature but also our vulnerability to it. I am thankful I can experience this.

This year has brought us many discomforts and pain due to the pandemic and the many social issues that we are experiencing, but even with all of that, there are many things that we can all be thankful for.

I am thankful for the gifts around me, not the physical gifts, but the amazing gifts that life has given me, such as my wife, my kids, my family in general, our health, and many more things that bring lasting joy to life.

This year brought me a health scare after my Garmin watch alerted me of an irregular heartbeat, twice. I then got an irregular EKG at the hospital, but later, a more in-depth test, a cardiac stress test, showed normal results. I am very thankful for that.

It’s hard to see the light and feel thankful when the abundance of negativity and bad news is placed in front of us daily. This is not healthy; watching the news and negative social media will more likely result in more struggle and pain.

Doomscrolling is real, and it’s not easy to get out of this bad habit. I am thankful that I don’t have that bad habit anymore, my life feels lighter, and I don’t feel the anxiety created by following toxic social media topics and people.

I am thankful because I am aware that we all have the capacity to improve our lives, that we can do better, and that better times are always ahead. I feel positive about that.

I hope you and your family are doing well, and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!