We’re approaching one my most favorite holidays of the year. A holiday that we gather round the table and eat shamelessly plates after plate of our favorite meals until our bellies are full and pants too tight. In my family, we always have had the tradition of writing in the Thanksgiving book of what we’re thankful for, I remember being a little girl waiting for my turn to write excited to write the typical sentence that starts with “This year I’m thankful for……” and fill in the blank with something.

As the years have past and I became older I fell into the attitude of “What am I going to write this year?” and I would be continuingly writing the same old sentence filling in the end with something I used to more often than not over years. But this year is different, this is a year I can not wait to write in the book because I have really learned what it means to be thankful and expressing this gratitude.

This year I am thankful for my family and friends. Thankful for all their time and effort that they personally devote to me. No matter what happens, at the end of the day they will always be there for me no matter what the situation might be. Through every struggle they do what they can to help me through and when the struggle has been overcome and the victory begins, there they are being my number one fans.

This year I am thankful for my well-being and health. I am grateful to be still alive and breathing despite the challenges that have presented over the past year. Although it may seem daunting and a little scary at times, I am here and still going, nothing will stop me.

I am also grateful for my education, to have the opportunity to open doors into a field of work that I aspire to fulfill a successful career in. I am grateful to have professors and faculty who push me to put forth my best work, seeing the potential in me, and using my own personal drive towards success to achieve my goals.

So this year when it comes to my turn to write what I’m thankful for, I might take up more room in the book than I ever have before. Sometimes even though it might seem there’s nothing particularly special to be thankful for, you should realize all the things you take for granted, because those really are the most important.