A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

2020 has caused a great many negative emotions to run amok in our minds and hearts: Fear, panic, anger, frustration, confusion, sadness, anxiety, discouragement, etc. It has caused us to lose so much. The worst losses, of course, are the many who have lost loved ones to the hateful, relentless virus. My heart and prayers go out to everyone who has lost loved ones and have had to grieve alone – the worst possible way to grieve.

My heart and prayers also go out to those who have had to be separated from loved ones… that’s pretty much all of us to one degree or another. I was supposed to be with my oldest daughter, Emily, when she had her baby boy, Colton, earlier this year but was unable to even be at the hospital to see her before she was taken back. I couldn’t be in the waiting room, couldn’t see my daughter before or after the delivery, and couldn’t see precious Colton in his little hospital blanket. Things I was so prepped and ready to do.

However, while she was having this adorable little doll baby, the tears that kept coming (while physically sitting in my den while emotionally at the hospital) weren’t “poor me” tears. They weren’t.. “This is a once in a lifetime thing and I can’t be with my baby while she’s having her baby!!!” tears.

No.

No anger, no sadness, no resentment, no bitterness, no sense of loss. How can you feel loss when there’s a new family member to buy things for, spoil rotten, and watch baseball with?! They were tears of joy, pride, and unspeakable happiness and thankfulness. Emily and her wonderful husband (Dill) had kept themselves healthy, safe, and well during a pandemic and were now bringing a precious little baby into the world. They took so many precautions and sacrificed so many get-togethers and “normal” life activities to keep their family safe and I was overcome with gratitude and pride… and so much joy!

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we should always focus more energy and time on things that we HAVE rather than those we don’t have. It’s almost impossible to feel sad when you’re in the process of being thankful.

I hope and I pray that your Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 2021 bring you so much joy and happiness that you couldn’t keep from smiling if you wanted to!

I want very much for you to stay well, stay safe, and stay healthy. But, there’s more than that – as I often tell people, “Stay YOU!” I have seen something this year – almost as sad as the illness, itself: people changing… and not for the better. Many are becoming bitter, angry, hate-filled, and judgmental. Many people I once loved to follow on Twitter are hardly even recognizable anymore. Where they once talked about how much they loved certain things and people in life, they now talk about their hatred for a particular person or group of people who think differently than they do.

This change in their temperament, personality, and overall aura doesn’t hurt the individual they harbor such hatred for. It only makes them look terrible. They didn’t stay who they were and it was like someone reading Charles Dicken’s Scrooge BACKWARD.

Please, don’t let the pandemic, politics, or hate you witness online or offline change you. Never become someone your own mother wouldn’t even recognize.

Have a happy Thanksgiving and please be safe and well!

~ Joi (“Joy”)

P.S. Stay you!