I'm Thankful Today

Today has been a great day. Today was Thanksgiving in Canada and I think it was one of the best Thanksgivings that I have celebrated while living in Utah. It actually started out as a pretty dull day. I slept in a lot later than I meant to and then wasn't very motivated to do much at work. Also, I tend to get kind of homesick at times like these (ie. Thanksgiving, Canada Day, etc.) However, everything changed once I got home.

I have a roommate who served his mission in Toronto. He also is part of a dinner group with some good friends of ours and tonight was his night to cook dinner. He decided to cook a turkey and do Thanksgiving dinner and he invited me to join them for dinner tonight. So, I decided to skip out on my own dinner group and join theirs for tonight. It was wonderful and it really meant a lot to me. I thanked him a couple of times for including me, but I still don't think that I've been able to express exactly how much it meant to me. It really was the closest I've felt to being home for Thanksgiving since I've been down here.

Well, as if that wasn't enough, the night just got better from there. Another one of my roommates came into the room a little later on and informed me that he had a Canadian friend who was going to be having poutine at her apartment. He invited me to come along and, well, I couldn't turn that down even though I was stuffed at it was going to result in me breaking my self imposed no-food-after-9:00pm rule. Well, we showed up at this girl's apartment and, as I'm bent over taking my shoes off, I hear "Robert!" Here, at this poutine party, was my friend Nikki who I went to school with in Raymond but hadn't seen in about 6 years or so. So that was a great reunion and we had the chance to catch up a bit while enjoying conversations about Canadian culture and memories with other fellow Canadians and people who served missions in various parts of Canada.

Anyway, I can't very well finish a post about Thanksgiving without expressing my gratitude for the many blessings I have received. I am thankful for having a family that loves me and that I love. I am thankful for the great friends that I have and the great examples that they are to me. I definitely do a lot of looking up to the people around me. I'm thankful for that opportunity that I have to receive a great education and for all of the opportunities of growth that I am presented with. And, while there's so much more that I could list off, I'll finish by saying that I am thankful to know that I am a child of God and I am thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and for the chance I have to follow His teachings and guidance in order to receive the blessings of exaltation.

No matter how hard or frustrating or just plain annoying things might seem at times, I really am extraordinarily blessed and have a wonderful life.