Thankful and loved

This time of year is always hard for me as it is for so many other people as well. This Thanksgiving season is especially hard as it marks one year since we said goodbye to my dad. I have been really set on not even celebrating anything and having a bad attitude about being thankful for anything. (Even though I KNOW I have so many things to be thankful for).

This week I was looking for a voicemail from my dad. It took me a few to go through before I found it. My friend had listened to two little snippets of a couple of them and said “wow, your dad really loved you”. I said “yeah, he really did”.  But it didn’t really hit me until later how impactful that statement was to me. Someone who never met my dad could tell from less than a minute of voicemail how much my dad loved me. I realized how lucky I am to have that. To know how my dad felt and know how much he loved me. To have videos and voicemails and texts that remind me how much he loved me. Not just me, but the rest of my family as well. That itself is something to be thankful for.

Even though I hate that he isn’t with us, it’s sometimes hard to watch videos of him, I am so so thankful that I have the reminders and memories he left with us. I’m also so thankful that I know how much he loved all of us. I am thankful for the reminder of that as well.

I hope everyone has a good thanksgiving. Hug your loved ones tight, take pictures and videos, and don’t ever put off the opportunity to tell your loved ones how you feel ❤️