Happy Thanksgiving!

This holiday season I decided my new favorite holiday song is (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays by Brian McKnight.

If you drove past me during the past few weeks, you saw me clapping my hands and bobbing my head to this upbeat tune that paints a picture of joy and love that fills the air as Grandma cooks our favorite dishes in the kitchen and the old and young celebrate the holiest night of the year.

The quintessential holiday image.

The image of home for me – Philly – has figured prominently in my heart and mind this year.

After being displaced twice and witnessing several cornerstone family members make their transitions, 2011 left me reeling.

So I toyed with the idea of moving home to anchor myself a bunch of times.

I took several trips and even landed a couple of job interviews only to realize that the notion that I could achieve a more grounded life by living closer to my (allegedly) more intact extended family was just an illusion; a fable I’d conjured up in my own mind.

To quote my friend Carla Griffin, “The state you’re in (physical location) is not as important as the state (of mind) you’re in.”

I learned that no matter where I live, home is in me.

I learned that my family – whether they live in Philly or elsewhere - is no different than I am: we wake up every morning; thank God for another day; and do the best we can with what we have as we continue to strive for more.

We are one and we are the same.

So in the spirit of David Letterman, I’d like to bring in the New Year with my own Top Ten List of things that I’m most thankful for: 

1. I am thankful for a greater sense of assurance within that enables me to be more of who God created me to be.
2. I am grateful I am learning to focus my attention on more of what I want instead of what I don’t have.
3. I am grateful that I can regard this year of exponential growth and tectonic shifts as one of the best years ever!
4. I am super grateful that my heart and mind are filled with excitement and anticipation for the days and weeks to come.
5. I am grateful that it is becoming so much easier to be grateful!
6. I thank God for my health.
7. I thank God for good work with good people.
8. I thank God for an awesome, healthy, exceptional daughter!
9. I thank God for my loving, supportive, amazing family far and wide, adopted and inherited.
10. And last but not least -  I thank God for all of you who have been divinely-selected to share this journey with me and who support me and this blog!

Here’s to our best year ever!

Happy Thanksgiving!