I’ll admit I wasn’t feeling the gratitude today. (Which is okay, right? I mean I still have a few hours left to procrastinate my character improvement.) This morning found me walking the track at the gym, my baby in a front carrier and nothing to entertain me except my mp3 player… which was dead. So basically I spent an hour walking in small circles and muttering to myself like a crazy person, nary a Gym Buddy in sight. That last bit was the real problem. See, all the Gym Buddies were absent this morning because they were saving up their childcare hours so they could come to the big Turbo holiday sweatfest tonight. The one I can’t attend because a) my baby is too young to go in the childcare and the gym management frowns on babies in kickboxing classes and b) my body isn’t healed up enough yet to handle it.
To understand my extreme angst you must know this is no ordinary cardio class. Every year Turbo Jennie crafts a particularly torturous 90 minutes of kickboxing intervals interspersed with crazy dance moves that she calls her Holiday Mix. It’s a total party and you burn mega calories the night before Thanksgiving so you can indulge guilt free the day of. (That’s the theory anyhow – me and my neuroses are not into guilt-free anything. But I’m working on that.) I live for the Holiday Mix.
And this year not only am I condemned to the hamster wheel but I have to sit at home knowing everyone is having a great time without me, not unlike the time I went to a girl’s-choice dance in high school only to have my date take off with my best friend and then watch as her date tried to get drunk by chugging bottles of breath drops. (In case anyone is wondering, no it didn’t work but I ended up having to walk home anyway after they decided there wasn’t enough room for me in the car.)
As I walked my bajillionth lap and pondered the incongruity of a Thanksgiving event making me seriously ungrateful, a news story popped up on one of the large screen TVs. “Burned boy facing lifelong recovery” was the headline, accompanied by a picture of a horribly burned child. Then his mother came on the screen, sobbing, “I’m just grateful he’s alive!”
5 points to the Big Guy upstairs: I get it, my problems are small. (Note to self: God uses HDTV.)
After that I decided to use my laps to think about all I have to be thankful for. It wasn’t too many before I came to see the wisdom in Chris Illuminati’s Unthankful Thanksgiving post (yes Chris, I just used you and wisdom in the same sentence):
Thankful is minor. Thankful is the feeling when a stranger points out I’ve mistakenly dropped a wad of money in a crowded store or when the UPS guy puts the package in between the screen door and front door so it doesn’t get drenched, or worse, stolen. Thankful is coming home and the package hasn’t been stolen and I can forgo a call to Amazon and beg for a replacement.
My family and friends, the coming bundle of boyhood, the upward course of my writing career and the pending book
are not things to be thankful for because they are much more. They are blessings. Blessings trump thanks.
[P.S. Do check out his book! He is hilarious and awesome.]
He’s right. Not only do I have a million things to be thankful for but as the good Friar tells Romeo, I also have “a pack of blessings light upon [my] back.” So while I still can’t go to the Turbo Party, how cool is it that I have so many fun friends that I cried because I miss them? (I know, who cries over missing a cardio class? Me, that’s who.) And how blessed am I to have 4 beautiful, healthy children? And a wonderful husband? And loving parents and siblings who are my best friends? And to be healthy myself? After I covered all the big blessings in my life (all of you blog buddies and readers also made the list!), I moved on to all the little things I’m grateful for. Like an indoor track so at least I’m not walking in the rain. And the fact that it’s November here and it’s still warm enough that we have rain! And binkies. Bobby pins. Books. (And the letter B, apparently.) Also: I haven’t had an anxiety attack in over 4 days! The hormonal tides they are a’ turning! Woohooo!
In the end I was even grateful my mp3 player had died or I never would have had this little schizophrenic chat with myself. I hope that all of you – whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving where you are – will make the effort to consider your blessings today as well. Bonus points if you aren’t as whiny about it as I was!
Happy Thanksgiving!
What a wonderful way to remind us all what this day is for.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving, Charlotte!!!!!!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving Charlotte! I am thankful for you and that you and your family are all happy, safe and well across the pond!xxx
Hi. Despite the fact that the Canadian Thanksgiving was few weeks ago I remember all things that I'm thankful for. We should at least try to be thankful for something. If you think that there is not much to be thankful for try to be thankful e.g. for this day that you can spend it with people who love you and vice versa.
Take care,
Julie
Loved the post! I was already at the gym this morn & have my treat already worked off!!!
Have a wonderful one with that new baby addition too!
Is it totally wrong that I was instantly jealous of that class they offered and wanted to get my ass kicked with a group of fitness friends? Oh well…great post. I did a similar faux-Thankful post the other day, as sometimes you need to look at even the little things that make you smile.
Have a good one!
I'm amazed that your gym has stuff going ON on Thanksgiving; the YMCA is closed for the whole day.
My Y waits for Saturday when they have the annual GOBBLESTOPPER classes, which is non-stop "sample" classes going on in all three rooms simultaneously all morning. You can go to a 20 minute spin class, followed by 20 minutes of bootcamp, then, zumba, yoga, kickboxing, pilates, swimming, etc. Lotsa fun to see the regulars mixing with all the newbies.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, AND ENJOY YOUR BLESSINGS!
"God Uses HDTV"
Well, he better, he has a big enough budget. ;^)
-Joshua
"Note to self: God uses HDTV"
🙂 Made me snort with laughter…
I find the more positive I try to be the more positive I am…and it leaches off to the people aroudn me. Simple simple, but took me ages to figure out. I don't always get it right, but I try.
Very good post- thanks Charlotte!! My YMCA is also closed on thurs and friday and whats worse is they never have free childcare 🙁 But I'm going to think about my blessings as instructed. We played frisbee this morning and had great non-rainy weather 🙂
I am grateful for good people who write great blogs that make me think, thank, and laugh 🙂
perfect timing on your post! I was just sitting here whining and moaning to myself about things that really don't matter right now.
and I think God has Tivo too! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving!
What another great post to make us realize how fortunate we all are every day. For what it's worth, I would cry to miss the granddaddy of all turbo classes. I'd cry so hard I'd hyperventilate. 🙂
I'm grateful to have found this amazing world of blogs like yours that make me laugh and cry and teach me so much about the world and myself.
Have a wonderful day with your family who loves you so much.
Wonderful post, Charlotte!
Happy Thanksgiving!
oh, i feel your pain of the 'hamster wheel'! I walked the indoor track of my Y for the first time on wednesday with my two-week-old for much of the same reasons, though I didn't have a turbokick class to lament. For me it was being passed by the old folks that nearly put me over the edge.
ANd yet how wonderful that we've got these healthy little ones and feel good enough ourselves to step on that hamster wheel so soon after birth!
Oh, and i was inspired by your labor lunging photos to snap a pic of me doing pushups on the 'birth' ball during my labor! Can't wait to give it to my trainer.
Ha ha – love that Chris!
Happy Thanksgiving Charlotte, and yes, we are both blessed. 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving a smidgetadlate 🙂
and today?
Whats the weekend hold for The GTE Family?
Nothing you say?
please to come here and assist the MizFit Clan in entertaining the visiting relatives.
Thanks so much…
Charlotte, we missed you too. All estimated 74 of us in class Wednesday night! There's always next year, right?
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. By the way, did you make an apple pie this year?
Thanks for the reminder to be thankful and you are not alone at crying over missed exercise opportunities. My gym is open on Thanksgiving morning for a "turkey burner" and I actually dragged myself there to find the BodyPump class full. I was so disappointed/annoyed but I did stick it out and got in some cardio and managed to squeeze into the BodyStep class that was next. I have been known to cry in my car to my husband on the phone when BodyPump has been full (and I am just not the type to squeeze in) – he thinks I am nuts.
Happy Thanksgiving leftovers!
Great post Charlotte. I think we always need to be reminded once in awhile. The Holiday mix sounds like a blast!
I'm thankful I live in Canada and that my Thanksgiving happened about 6 weeks ago! Otherwise…well, I would likely have to miss out on going home as exams are looming ominously.
Oh, and I'm also thankful that even thought it's almost December (and I live in Calgary…), it has yet to get really cold and snow yet.
Lastly, I am thankful for awesome blogs (*cough* GFE *cough*) that keep me entertained while avoiding corporate tax law studies…..
You disabled the comments on that post; you're trampling on my rights to freedom of speech!
Oh, you mean I get to comment HERE? OK… intermittent fasting/starving whatever you want to call it is nuts. Those snarky comments prove it.
All I wanted to say to Ms Vizzini was: F- for reading comprehension, and never start a land war in Asia.
I like this post. Very interesting,you really have great posts in here. More power to you and God Bless!
I like this post. Very interesting,you really have great posts in here. More power to you and God Bless!
I like this post. Very interesting,you really have great posts in here. More power to you and God Bless!