Goodbye Ghosties! Hello Turkeys! (What a difference ONE day can make)

Yay!  Today is November 1st!  Turkeys, warm sweaters, election day, apple cider, family, friends, autumn, wood burning stoves, pumpkin pie...   Just a few things I think of when November hits, but maybe not in that order.  November is the "Thankful" month.  It is also a time for reflection.  On this particular November 1st, I am drawn to the idea of firsts. 

Firsts are beautiful things.  The experience of a first is something that cannot be replicated.  That wide-eyed awe look of a child when they see their first snow fall.  The loss of breath when you see your beloved at the end of the aisle and knowing that they are yours and you are theirs.  Tears of joy shed by a new parent looking lovingly into the face of their newborn child.

This November 1st, has several firsts of it's own for my family.  This is the first November that I have not spent in Kentucky since my parents moved there when I was 3.  This is my family of four first November spent together since my husband Jon joined the Canadian Army.  This is our first November in our own home in the lovely province of Manitoba, Canada.  This is my first November with a sweet little pug cross named Julip.  This is the first November I won't be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family in Kentucky, but with new friends.

Some firsts are sad in nature, but with each sad ending comes a happy beginning.  I lost my first grandparent two years ago, but a year later my son was born.  One sad end was followed by a happy beginning.  Another example, maybe the most crucial one as we come into this time of Thanksgiving and Christmas, is part of the greatest and truest love story ever told.  The end, Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden, to be separated from God.  The beginning, the birth of God's only Son, the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with Us.  Hope, salvation, reconciliation.

So as we start this month of Thanksgiving reflect and be thankful!