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Since going to college, and a college with the greatest rivalry football game around this time, I have really put Thanksgiving on the back burner. I mean, I don’t even go home for it. I would just stay at school and enjoy my days off and then go to the long-awaited football game Saturday morning. An entire holiday happened that was all about being thankful for those around me and the blessed life I have, and I just chose to skip it. That was my rock bottom, and I talk a lot about my rock bottom and the things I have learned. Today, that lesson is about being thankful. I was going to post this on my usual Monday time, but I didn’t want to post so far away from Thanksgiving. So if you think I am interrupting your anticipation and excitement for THE game, to remind you that Thanksgiving comes first and you better be partaking, I am.

So here it goes…

“Thank God”. Two words I am so lucky to say every day, multiple times a day. Thanking God is what Thanksgiving stands for. Look it up if you don’t believe me. So eat all the turkey, casseroles, and stuffing that you want, and spend quality time with people you love and that love you. But on this very special day, cherish every second and give thanks to the one who blessed you with all of it.

Let me break this all the way down. I have been asked to speak on various occasions, and for the most part, I am given a good amount of time to prepare my speech. Just recently, I got to say a few words to one of my favorite Michigan teams, and it was totally on the spot. When given only a minute or two to come up with something impactful or meaningful, my thought process went immediately to something as simple as a day. Something so simple, yet so precious. Something so simple, yet such an opportunity. Something so simple, yet the greatest blessing. Each day is so special because you get the chance to live it. It is easy to take that for granted, I will admit. Especially when you have got so much going on, you pretty much feel entitled to live as many days as you want. Because you have got some kind of status, and you’re on TV, and make x amount of money, and drive something with four wheels, maybe three. You get the idea. Anyways, None of those things will grant you another day of life.

I have been getting flashbacks recently of my old life. Mainly referring to my gap year and the struggles I endured in it. My memory does a good job of blocking it off, but last week I was an emotional wreck. I had my repeat scans and everything came back good, praise God! Times like these really do feel like such a blessing, especially in a time I could choose to view as a curse. The anxiety and PTSD I have from getting scans done and getting totally blindsided by life-changing results… So, having to relive that every three months for the first year out is such a drag. However, the blessing is hearing that all-clear all over again, reminding me of how blessed I am to be living today. For that, I get to give the greatest thank you to God every day that I wake up.

Right after hearing the great news of remaining in remission, I actually decided to give up my ticket for THE game. I am thankful for Michigan, I am. It is a phenomenal school and place to be. Then you add football into that mix, and very good football I will also add, and well all I could tell you is that it really is great to be a Michigan Wolverine.

It is totally criminal not to watch our boys in blue, and even through treatment, I stayed locked in every Saturday. I had made it a goal of mine that I was going to be in the big house for THE game. And for a while there, it really was going to happen. And then it no longer was a goal of mine. Not to say it was not a great goal. It just was not mine, it never was.

It would have been the most perfect and larger-than-life moment for any Michigan Wolverine. I should know, I have already lived it before. And it was great and till this day still one of my favorite Michigan memories. But it was not larger than life, nothing is. It was also two years ago, and I have lived what feels like a hundred lifetimes since then.

In one of those lifetimes, I received news that I was facing something where my days could possibly be numbered. The reality of life, though, is that everybody’s days are numbered. It is the inevitable nobody likes to talk about. And I merely mention it just to emphasize how precious every day is. Every day is thanksgiving, for it is God you should be thanking every day you get to live and laugh and love.

Of course, it goes without saying that I am absolutely thrilled to watch my team, which, we could then also refer to as America’s team after all. See what I did there? 😉

Have a truly wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! May your day be filled with an abundance of joy, love, and delicious food.

God bless you all and Go Blue!

Psalm 100:4
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

2 Corinthians 9:11
“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”