Thankful

Today in the United States we celebrate our national day of Thanksgiving and while I know this holiday has a lot of horrific roots, I choose to use today to be reflective and grateful for the life I have. Every year, I learn more and more about our history and reality. To all my Indigenous friends and readers, I see you. I respect you. I am grateful for you.

Another year of this pandemic is drawing to a close and I continue to feel big feelings. I look back at the 2019 version of myself and I don’t think that girl would ever guess where she’d be today. This time last year, I was a mess. Preparing to spend the first holiday away from family, feeling terrified to leave the house and expose more vulnerable people to the virus, missing working in live theatre, and not sure where our future was going.

But I reread my Thanksgiving post from last year recently and it was such a great reminder of the little things that have gotten me through.

This year, we got a little joy back. We finally were able to get married and celebrate with our friends and family. We spent two weeks in our favorite place and were able to rest and recharge. We brought home our sweet puppy who is the light of our lives. I read a lot of fantastic books, wrote my own books, and Read & Wright continues to grow.

I know I’m not alone in feeling so exhausted. The mental gymnastics, the frustrations, the anger and fear. But if you’re reading this, I am so proud of you. I am so grateful for you. I never take for granted how lucky I am to have this community.

There have been so many bright spots and I’m already in disbelief at the good things to come in 2022. Life is really different than I planned but I’m learning that I’m stronger than I thought. A line from one of my characters I’ve had the pleasure of playing 3 times comes to mind, “There’s a bright brand new day in store.”

Whether you celebrate today or it’s just a Thursday, I wish you all the good things in the world and plenty of stories to get lost it.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my dreams come true. Stay well, stay safe, happy reading.