A Gratitude Miniseries: October 2018

As I reflect on this past month, I am happy to share that October has been filled with many good times and memories for my loved ones and me.

As we’re only a couple of months away from wrapping up 2018, I look forward to reflecting on this gratitude miniseries at the end of the year. For the most part, it has been a good year, at least compared to the last few years. I’ve learned many lessons along the way.

One of the most eye-opening lessons I’ve learned this year is the importance of quality time with friends and family. While everyone should value this, somehow it seems even more important when living with a life-threatening illness. Before I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), I moved through life quickly, sometimes not stopping long enough to appreciate quality moments with important people in my life. While learning this lesson is still a work in progress, it has become evident to me that what I appreciate most nowadays is not something materialistic, but rather time and experiences with the people I love most.

As I look at my October calendar spread out beside me on my bed, I have been lucky to experience many different adventures this month. I either visited places I’d never been, or I was able to take friends and family to places they had never been, which meant a lot to me. Overall, my energy level seemed a little more tolerable this month, or at least consistent throughout the month, with fewer ups and downs. While it is nowhere near comparable to someone else my age, I am thankful that my lungs and my body cooperated enough to have some very positive experiences with friends and family.

Following are some of my favorite experiences of October:

• Thanksgiving and the changing colors of the leaves: The long Thanksgiving weekend in Canada (Oct. 8) is usually one of my favorites of the year. This is not only due to the family time it brings, but it also signifies the seasons changing. I love the beautiful colors of autumn. Particularly, the town I grew up in is very small compared to the city I live in now, and the beauty of fall there is quite exquisite. This year certainly did not disappoint, and Thanksgiving weekend at home was nice with friends, family, and beautiful scenery, as I took my dog for a drive to see the fall colors.

• Wine tours with my parents: As I get older, I am beginning to appreciate different wines and to enjoy wine tours. My parents also are into wine, and they had never visited the wineries close to where I live now. I encouraged them to come down and spend a day touring the wineries, and they loved it. It was such a nice day catching up with them and bonding over a now-common passion of ours. They stayed overnight, and I was happy to make them a delicious butternut squash dinner with freshly baked bread. Of course, we had a bottle of one of our new favorite wines, which was a nice ending to a perfect day.

• Celebrating a friend’s good news: One of my closest friends got engaged this month, so it was nice to go out and have a celebratory dinner with her late last week. We went for comfort food at a favorite restaurant of ours so I could hear all the details, and then we went to a do-it-yourself Christmas card-making class. This is something both of us thoroughly enjoy, and it was a nice night celebrating our friendship mixed in with some good food and drinks.

• Attending a women’s crafting retreat with my cousins: I find crafting very therapeutic these days, and I try to spend as much time as I can scrapbooking, card-making, or digitally designing things. This is a nice outlet for me and allows me to balance the frustrations of work that are occurring as of late. Designating a weekend of 12-hour days simply to crafting, catching up with my cousins, eating, and drinking was pure bliss. I am so glad I was able to stay healthy enough to attend. Not only was it fun and relaxing, but I also was able to make headway on some of the Christmas gifts I am making this year, which was a bonus.

What are you thankful for this month?

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