Three-Year Plans

I am not a person who has a 10-year plan. Or a five. Or even a one. I can't really even say what I'll be doing a month from now. But yearly rituals like Thanksgiving do cause a person to reflect and to look forward. And it was at Thanksgiving dinner this year, when we went around the table listing the things for which we were thankful, that I realized just how much has happened, planned or not, in these last three years. There was a Thanksgiving when presumed overeating pains turned out to be gall bladder pains (and by Chanukah--not Thanksgivukah--that year, I was having surgery). There was a Thanksgiving when I was mourning the fresh loss of my work at ABC, and a Thanksgiving when I was completely consumed with (and agitated about) finding new work.
 
And now there is this year. No medical emergencies, no fresh losses. Just the embracing of the new life that continues to develop each day. A life that includes work, but a healthy dose of home. A life in which I appreciate both the older-ness of my own children, and the younger-ness of my cousins' children (including a brand new one born yesterday). A life in which, at Thanksgiving dinner, I can name more things to be thankful for than the length of my turn will allow.
 
I didn't plan these three years, and I am not likely to plan the next three. But a year from now, or two years, or three years from now, when Thanksgiving comes around again, with or without a plan, I will likely say I am thankful to have made it through a whole new set of adventures.
 
Because life isn't really about making plans. It's about what you do each day, planned or not.