Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Give Thanks -- for Thanksgiving!

As we head into the week in which we celebrate our gratitude, allow me to share a very personal bit of my life with you.
 
Thirty-two years ago, on Thanksgiving, I suffered a miscarriage, losing my first baby suddenly. It was heartbreaking, and for years, it was very hard for me to show my gratitude for much of anything. I'd lost hopes and dreams.  The first loss even made it hard to invest a piece of my heart into my pregnancy a year later. I was so worried! 
 
I still remembered that loss and linked it to Thanksgiving every year for more than a decade. Then in 1994, just a few months after I left my husband of 17 years, my entire feeling about Thanksgiving changed forever...
 
My husband had my daughter for visitation that Thanksgiving, and I could have been in the dumps as a result. Instead, there was a guy I had just started talking to, on the phone, for hours. We met online (yes! In 1994!! Before cyber-dating, Google, eBay, or Match.com) in September. And he wanted to know if I'd meet him for dinner on Thanksgiving Eve, our first date, our first meeting. That's John. We met, and it was kismet....we've been together ever since -- 21 years! 
 
I am forever filled with gratitude for so much! Thanksgiving is now "my" holiday. May yours next week be as stuffed.

"Cupcake Wars" at St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne PA.  My daughter Emily is pictured at left, along with the fellow members of the "Swirls and Pearls" ER Night staff.  The team took 3rd place out of 33 competitors!
 
 
I made the banner above using my Cricut Explore and a Cricut subscription for it. For the base, I used cereal box cardboard. I covered it in Close To My Heart cardstocks (Whisper and Blush), and cut the letters from Bazzill silver metallic cardstock. The banner is to decorate a table full of cupcakes at my daughter Emily's workplace -- there's "Cupcake Wars" later this week, and Emily is using my family's Carrot Cake recipe in cupcakes as one of her entries. Her team name is "Swirls and Pearls" so this banner is heavily embellished in rhinestone swirls and adhesive pearls. The banner in the middle is stamped (using CTMH's new "Jennifer's Hand" stamps) with the competition's slogan. It's all tied together with grey organza ribbon from Wild Orchid Crafts.

2 comments:

Dr Sonia S V said...

Ooh what a heart warming story Ellen...Thank you so much for sharing it. It touches my heart and makes me realise I have such a lot to be thankful for myself!!
Cheers
Dr Sonia

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

What a beautiful story, life sends us what we need sometimes and when it does Oh! biy it's just wonderful, as you have found out. Congratulations on your daughter and on your 21 years together .