Thursday, November 22, 2007

Gratitude - Thanksgiving 2007

Greetings from Flagstaff, where the temperatures actually feel representative of the time of year -- a brisk 50 degrees, breezy, and clear right now. There might be a little snow this weekend (high on Saturday is predicted for 37 degrees), but it's not supposed to be heavy (which was the prediction earlier this week).


[San Francisco Mountain just outside of Flagstaff]

I'm spending the holiday weekend alone up here in the mountains. Several friends, who know I have no family, invited me to do the Thanksgiving dinner thing with their families, which I very much appreciate, but I wanted to get out of town this weekend and spend some time alone. More importantly, I wanted to be out in nature as much as possible.

Flagstaff is beautiful. At an elevation of just over 7,000 feet, it feels like some of my favorite places in Oregon and Washington -- lots of evergreens, lots of ravens -- and it's a cool, hippie college town kind of like Ashland, Oregon, where I went to school.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. My amazing friend Susie is the coolest person I know. I have great clients. I am healthy and strong. I can afford to get out of town for a few days without stressing about money (still a new concept for me). I love my job, and I'm soon to embark on a new journey toward becoming a therapist.

I'm also thankful for places like Flagstaff, where the land is beautiful, the people are friendly, and the ravens are always around. I plan to do a lot hiking in the next few days, so I am grateful for the wild places that still exist in the world. And I am grateful for the preservation of some Native American cultural sites, of which there are many up here, that remind me I carry the blood (albeit a small amount) of some ancestors who saw this continent long before any white person every did.

What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving day?


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