Thanks, Merci, Dank, Gracias, Teşekkürler, Tack, Salamat, شكرا
I might be the only American blogger who hasn’t posted about Thanksgiving yet. At least, that’s my assessment from the blogs I follow and scan throughout the day, every day, somewhat obsessively.
Truth be told, I’m a procrastinator and (surprise!) have tardiness issues. I’m also a late bloomer and usually the last to know, but that’s beside the point. The point is - this is my official Thanksgiving post, 6 days later.
As many have already mentioned, major holidays when you’re grieving can be pretty excruciating. The first Thanksgiving without K, I tried to avoid the “emotional cliff” by traveling to the East Coast to be with my family and K's mother. It was sad but good.
This year, the 2nd Thanksgiving without K, I went with an old friend of his to some new friends (a gay couple) who live an hour outside of Los Angeles. They were kind enough to invite both me and my puppy, who spent the entire afternoon/evening playing with their grown dog, a German Shepherd who flunked out of drug-sniffing school before she was rescued by her two fathers. The dogs got along like gangbusters.
When it was time for dinner, we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. I said I was thankful for my family and friends, for Ruby, for being there, and so on.
I wanted to add how thankful I am for discovering blogging, but didn’t because my blog is still somewhat of a secret. Rather, I have only told a few people about it. For some reason, I feel a little shy about my writing around certain folks, including K's friends, not sure why. (Do any other widows/widowers feel like that?) It's something I will need to get over.
Anyway, I would like to say thank you now, to YOU, the readers.
Thank you for reading this blog, whether you follow it or not. Your time is precious and I’m honored and grateful that you would choose to spend any of it here.
Thanks to those of you who have liked posts and/or left comments. Every “like” and every comment literally makes my day.
I’ve only been at this for 40 days. Before that, I wrote in a journal, wrote film scripts and more recently a book (still working on it) - so, either stuff that was private or stuff that takes a very long time and a lot of money to see the light of day. For someone who is still re-defining herself as a woman and a writer after losing her husband, blogging has been somewhat of a revelation.
I love the freedom of it, the autonomy. I love interacting with people from all walks of life, sharing common interests, learning new things, being inspired and surprised. I love the thrill of hitting the "publish" button, and the instant gratification of sending a post out into the matrix and seeing it read in places like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Pakistan, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Turkey, United Kingdom and here in the U.S.
Honestly, I wish I had found blogging sooner, like when K was sick, but c’est la vie. I’m here now, and I’m going to make the most of it. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
