What Are You Really Thankful For?

Happy Black Friday!  I hope everyone who ventured out today was successful :) The power at my house just came back on after almost 48 hours without it, so, in between celebrations of the fact that we now have electricity - and the fact that yesterday was Thanksgiving - I thought I'd write a little more about what I'm thankful for.

Even though it messed with our power, the snow is still beautiful!

I like to think of myself as a grateful person, and most of the time I think I do a pretty good job acknowledging the blessings in my life.  However, it is very easy to get distracted by various stresses in my life - too much homework, not enough sleep, not being able to decide what to make for dinner, etc.  What I need to remind myself is that these can all be looked at as blessings in disguise.  If it weren't for my parents' encouragement and support, I wouldn't have the opportunity to go to school, and therefore wouldn't "get to" be stressed about homework.  As much as I enjoy sleeping, I have to remember how fortunate I am to have a place that is comfortable and warm to sleep every night.  As for dinner, I am so lucky to be able to decide what I want to eat, and that I can eat something different every night if I want to.

I have mentioned in many of my posts how lucky I am to go to Saint Mike's and to have such wonderful people in my life.  But there are some things - like electricity - that I forget to be thankful for.  My recent lack of electricity, while annoying, no doubt, has reminded me how lucky I am to have a few things in particular that electricity provides for me:

-Running water. I didn't realize how often I actually use running water.  The first things I do in the morning are wash my face (usually with warm water), use the bathroom, and brush my teeth.  Throughout the day, I am constantly going to the sink to fill up my water bottle.  Since my house has a well, these things aren't as easily done when the power is out.

-Refrigeration. Although we arguably have a "natural" refrigerator outside since it's so cold, my parents made sure everyone was very careful about not opening the refrigerator so as to make sure our food didn't go bad.

-Lights. I have certainly been much more conscious of daylight during the past 48 hours.  Also, as a college student, I tend to be up working long after dark.  Not having power made me all the more aware of this fact, and I am now that much more appreciative of lights and how they enable me (for better or worse) to stay up working!

-Internet. As much as I sometimes wish it weren't the case, I am on my phone quite a bit.  And as I always point out when I come home, New Hampshire isn't known for its fantastic cell coverage.  I can send texts, but trying to open my email or any of my other apps is a bit much when I don't have internet.  Thankfully I wasn't in dire need of wifi for the past two days, but it affected me nonetheless.  My roommates and I have a group chat on Facebook, which is how we primarily connect with each other when we're all home.  Not having internet, and therefore not being able to talk to my roommates as easily, was not fun for me!

Lauren, Cait, Alex, and me after a delicious dinner
at El Gato on Church Street - one of our favorite spots!

So I have to admit that my family does have a generator (finally, after many years without one!).  I know this might seem like cheating or that I didn't really have to go without power.  Our particular generator doesn't make everything in our house work, and we turned it off at night.  We also didn't even turn it on the first night of having no power, so we relied on candles, flashlights, and lots of blankets!  In any case, the generator is one more thing to be thankful for.

To end this Thanksgiving week, I am thankful for my family, my beautiful friends, my health, safety, Saint Mike's (and everything that encompasses), my faith, love, all the opportunities that have been put before me, and all the things that come with electricity, among other things.  And of course, I'm thankful for everyone who reads my blog! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and really took some time to think about the blessings in their lives.  If you're reading this, that likely means you have internet, which is certainly one thing to be happy about!

Happy almost December!
Merrill

PS In case you're wondering, my family did have turkey yesterday.  My mom grilled it!

PPS Since it's now after Thanksgiving, I think it's officially socially acceptable to say that I'm listening to Michael Buble's Christmas album and absolutely loving it :)