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I’d like to welcome Dana Stenholtz, guest artist and writer, to ChinDeep. Dana will be writing for ChinDeep on a regular basis! Welcome back Dana!

Dana Stenholtz

Thanksgiving is upon us once again. I’m going to assume most of us know what Thanksgiving is and not waste words telling you what you already know.

What you probably do not know is that I decided a couple of years ago to start doing a daily thanksgiving in my journal. I started on the first day of 2008, which was arguably one of the roughest years of my life so far. I am not going to share with you my daily gratefulness. What we find ourselves thankful for is as unique as our fingerprints. Some days, all I could say at the end of the day was, “I am thankful for still being able to pick up this pen and write.” Some days, it was profound.

What I am going to share with you is what I wrote on January 1, 2008, and what I wrote on December 31, 2008. The 363 days in between are just as meaningful to me, and I would encourage anyone who dares to try it. You may be surprised, as I was, to see just how much you have to be grateful for.

It’s 10:30pm on January 1, 2008. I have decided I’m going to write down one thing every day this year that I am thankful for, trying to not repeat. I’m going to do this at the end of each day, right before I turn out the lights. Every day, until December 31, 2008, comes to a close. Let the gratitude begin….

12-31
I am thankful for this year of extreme hardships and great heaping helpings of joy; for belly-ache laughter and gut-wrenching tears; for questions and more questions and being okay with no answers and then sometimes getting answers; for sweet words and tender embraces and compassionate listening and well-meaning advice; for pride and humility; for anguish and ecstasy; for all the Life just living gives to us… for the privilege to be part of it all.

Thanksgiving is a good time to celebrate a big deal. May every day be Thanksgiving. May every day be a big deal.

~Dana Stenholtz