What are we giving thanks for this weekend ?

[splashhopper]

As the thanksgiving weekend is upon us I am reminded of how lucky many of us are to have safe warm homes and families to enjoy this celebration with.

 

One of the highlights of thanksgiving for our family is to invite people that don't have a place to go home to for special occasions like this. Some of them are students at UWO, some are newly divorced or separated and uncomfortable going home, some are work transients to the city from far away places and some may be just down on their luck, some may have lost a loved one recently, some may be working their way back from a life of addictions etc.

 

My weekend will start off tonight working with the Salvation Army on their street cares van looking for people who will not ( for whatever reasons) come in to the various shelters available to them.

 

Then on the weekend I will be trolling my way towards Owen Sound to meet up with a young man I met at the Men's mission here in town last night. We will likely share a war story or two and then grab a coffee with some other like minded friends after an hour of jibber jabber about changing our lives from self centered to out of self.

 

"Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service. We expect others to serve us, not vice versa."

 

This weekend is all about gratitude for me and my family. We are truly blessed to live in this city and to have a bountiful life together.

 

 

What is this weekend about to you all and how do you show your gratitude in service to others?

Edited October 7, 2010 by splashhopper

[Rod Caster]

Nice post, very humbling.

 

I'm thankful I'm not 5000kms away from my family anymore.

This weekend I will be spending time with my GF and visiting her side of the family. She doesn't get to see her dad often and this is a good opportunity since I've got a car. Then we drive the opposite way to see the rest of her family. I'll be sacrificing some steelhead time this weekend but I'm not concerned.

[Nemo]

Good post. I have plenty to be happy about and am thankful for it.

 

I intend to go round the table this Sunday and ask all the kids and adults to list three things they are thankful for before we start the meal and then say grace.

 

I am interested in hearing what they say.

 

 

 

As they say, it's not all about the sausage stuffing......or is it? (just kidding, but sausage stuffing is my favourite)

 

Thanks for the reminder.

[wkrp]

Good for you splashhopper . I can only hope there are more people like you out there.

[mercman]

spending the weekend being thankful for being alive.21 years of sobriety,21 more years that the big guy gave me to do his work.taking the nephew out on saturday for some fishing, sharing the saturday meal with him and his wife and new daughter..Sunday morning i was invited to speak at a meeting in downtown montreal.always some new peolple coming in off the streets and seeing if they are really in need of help.

Monday, sleep......ahhh yessss

[spincast]

Good for you Splash, you are a good person - in time (when the kids are older) I hope to share my fortune with others too.

about 20 years ago after atrip to Lake Superior I felt a golf ball sized lump in my neck. My Doctor and every medical person I knew at the time - including my father who was chief of staff at UWO hospital for over 20 years - was sure I had lymphoma. It took 6 weeks to get into the hospital and have a bisposy. It was a benign cyst in my lymph node.

My wife and I got married the next year on the Thanksgiving weekend. 19 years this Monday. Every year I give thanks that I am still here. Simple, yet so complex. .

Edited October 8, 2010 by spincast

[smally21]

im thankful the OFC is here to provide me with hundreds of opinionated, factless, tactless, know it all to argue with 24/7.

 

but seriously thanksgiving is the unofficial anniversary for my wife and I, and my sons birthday. ill be getting together with all the family and working all weekend. we'll be doing dropoffs at the local shelters to help with their efforts.

 

happy turkey day!

 

PS i was kidding about that first part you know, mostly....