Celebrating Thanksgiving 2021

Photo courtesy of Pixabay via Pexels

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?  As next week brings the Thanksgiving holiday, we reflect on what we are thankful for this year.  It has been another year in a pandemic, but there are still many things to be thankful for.  Here are the five things I am thankful for this year.

1. I am thankful for spending time with my father.  Some of you may know that my father has an aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease, which has been very challenging for him and my stepmother to deal with, but they are navigating their way through.  I have been doing my best to spend time with them each week to have as many laughs as possible and create memories that we will cherish forever.

2. I am thankful to be enjoying my girls growing up.  My oldest will be going off to college next fall, and it is incredible to be going through the college visiting and application process.  I am very fortunate that Montana is a driven, dedicated student who knows what she wants to do when she goes off to college (nursing is her passion).  Then my youngest daughter Sierra is now a freshman and doing amazing in school. She has found a love of running and did great in the first cross country season and is now looking forward to winter track. I feel fortunate that the pandemic slowed my business down to a point where I spent quality time with my girls and realized that this is a blessing to be present and do things together before they grow up and create their own amazing futures.

3. I am thankful that the travel industry is rebounding strongly, and clients are looking forward to getting back out and traveling the world.  Many regulations need to be understood and followed when traveling at this time. Still, everyone who has traveled internationally has said that once they arrived at the destinations, their prework was worth the trip.

4. I am thankful for all of my close travel colleagues near and far for supporting each other throughout these last two years. We still have many changes happening with travel that can make our work much more stressful and three times as much work to plan the same trip as before the pandemic. So having these colleagues be there to listen and encourage each other has been a saving grace.

5. I am always thankful this time of year for my close group of friends that have been with me since middle school. We talk weekly and see each other often. When I need help with something, I know I can call them, and they will be there for me. They know I am a support for them as much as they are for me. I cherish these friendships.  
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I hope this gave you some thoughts on things that you are thankful for in your life. There are so many things to be thankful for that are big and small, and if you remember at least one small thing you are thankful for every day, it will bring you joy.

​Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.

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