Ending My Month of ‘Thanks’ on a High Note

I couldn’t have picked a better way to end my month of “thanks”.

I spent this Thanksgiving in Illinois with my family and I left feeling FULL. Not just full of yummy sides and turkey but FULL of love.

I know that sounds corny, but its the truth.

I think the concept of “family” creeps up on you as you get older. When I was younger I thought family was something everyone had. That everyone went to family reunions and laughed, told stories and enjoyed each other, but as I get older, I am realizing that the family I am surrounded with is quite rare.

This year I have had the opportunity to spend time with both sides of my LARGE family and both times I left feeling so blessed that I have a family who I enjoy being around and respect, which is impressive seeing how many of us there are.

My mom is the youngest of nine and my dad is the oldest of 4. YIKES, right?

This year my family experienced something that was painful, still hard to swallow and just unexpected and unfortunate and it was during that time that I realized how important it is to have family. It didn’t matter what we were doing, where we were or how far we had to travel everyone dropped everything and came together, loved and supported one another.

To me, that is the perfect example of the type of family that I have.