Thanksgiving

I wake from a dream in which I had returned to work in a similar role as one I was once very proficient in. I was, shall we say, less so in the dream and in my early wakefulness ponder what I remember and what’s lost to me about the technical aspect of my former work.

At first, I have no clue how I’d get started with setting up a benefit program in our HR/Benefits/Payroll system but after few minutes rumination I recall table names and become convinced I could do it. My mind wanders farther back—decades—to now-obsolete programming languages and I think I could even muddle through coding a program if there was still hardware and an operating system left laying around somewhere to support it. We’ll never know for certain, but it’s fun to think about.

These days the skills I hone are closer to home and more creative (although there’s something incredibly creative and satisfying about writing a computer program or designing a benefit program too). Now I spend my time in the kitchen and the woman cave; in the garden, at some times of the year; and, perhaps more than I should, in my head.

My daughter talks about “ages and stages” with respect to my granddaughter and I realize that the concept is one that is timeless. This particular age and stage I’m in now is one I looked forward to for years. Now that I’m here I find things I didn’t realize were waiting—some challenges, yes, but also treasures I’m still unwrapping.

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and a good opportunity to count blessings. Even in this year like none other in our lifetime, one that I repeatedly say is kicking my mental health butt, there is an abundance of blessing. I remind myself of them as another day begins and that place in my stomach where I carry grief like low burning coal ready to burst into flame the moment fuel is added still burns.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canadian friends and family. It’s a beautiful created world we wake to this morning and there’s much to be grateful for.