Thanks for the turkey!

November is my absolute favorite month of the year!  There are so many exciting activities packed in these 30 days.  We've got All Saints Day and All Souls Day (two holidays I know nothing about btw).  Daylight Savings ends, so we get an hour of sleep back!  There's Election Day followed by Veterans Day.Then the climax, Thanksgiving Day that is almost being usurped by Black Friday!   There is just a whole lot of stuff to do and celebrate in the month of November!  But there is one more significant day I will especially be looking forward to this month.  It's the day I made my debut appearance!           

Little known fact about me, I just so happened to have been born at 7:20 am on Thanksgiving Day 46 years ago.  Well, actually it isn't a little known fact to any of my family and friends because every Thanksgiving Day, from the time I can remember, my mother will tell anyone who would listen and many who wouldn't, the story behind my birth.  I will share the abbreviated version:  It was a bright, sunny, unseasonably warm Thanksgiving morning (especially for Michigan which usually has experienced it's first snow by then).  My mother's water broke announcing I was ready to come and off to hospital my mom and dad went.  I popped out shortly after arriving there.  When they brought me back in the room after cleaning me up, I was allegedly laying atop the bassinet with my legs crossed and my eyes wide open.  To which my mom turns  to my father and said, "Oh Lord, Rodney we're gonna have our hands full with this one!"  My grandmother arrived later to see her new granddaughter, of course,  armed with a plate full of all the favorite holiday foods for my mother.  My mother graciously eats the meal while exclaiming she's already birthed the best "turkey" she will ever have.  She ends the story with why they decided to give me the middle name Joi.  It was because I brought them so much joy on Thanksgiving. Then as the gushing closer she exclaims with all the emotion only a mother can muster,  that I have been a joy to them ever since that day... yadayadayada!  My childhood friends will still call  me on Thanksgiving (the day my birthday is celebrated no matter what day it actually falls on) and then recant the entire story back to me.  As if I haven't heard it 45 times before! 

Well, needless to say, while a bit embarrassing I'm grateful for my birth being so fondly remembered. I'm extremely honored to be here on earth right now with the life I've been blessed to live.  But I must admit, in the hustle and bustle of everyday'ness, I often need to be reminded to pause and reflect on all the bountiful blessings I have.   So, I thought it would be wonderful to, while preparing our bellies for all the deliciousness of the big day to also prepare our hearts.  Let's spend the next 30 days focusing on the everyday fortunes in our lives.  It is said that any habit can become routine in 30 days.  So starting today,  I will post a gratitude based journal prompt everyday this month.  My hope is that at the end of this month we will  have developed a habit to be more aware, more appreciative, and more thankful for our everyday life.   

 I will list the journal prompt on the Closet Creatives FB, Twitter feed and IG page.  Spend a few minutes writing your response.  It can be a sentence, it can be a paragraph, it can be a book.  All that matters is that it is written by YOU!    If you feel so moved to join us, please share on any of the above listed platforms.  For a more intimate atmosphere, I have started a new Closet Creatives FB Group Page.  It is an exclusive group of Closet Creatives where you can share and not worry about it being posted for public eyes.    FYI, I'm listening to Brian McKnight "Brianized" on Periscope as I'm typing this post.  I am so very grateful for his talented voice right now as he serenades me with Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love."  #soothing 

Let's have fun and come out more thankful on the other side!  Let's commit now to being more grateful together!