On catering, cranberry sauce, and gratitude

The cranberry sauce is cooling for Thanksgiving dinner, the dishwasher runs in the distance. K is playing football with his friends, my son is with his grandparents in the backyard running through piles of leaves and imploring for yet another go on the swings while I defrost the turkey and tinfoil the yams and wonder how its possible to already be well into the afternoon. I had planned on making my favorite stuffing, mashing yukon potatoes with garlic and parsley and trying a new green bean casserole recipe but my family intervened pointing out how quite far along I am, how tired I would get. You're due next month K implored, please, take it easy. So we compromised by catering half the menu from our favorite bakery, and me making only my absolute favorites.

When he said next month, I felt completely surprised because why yes, I am nearing the ninth month, but when and how did that happen? When pregnant with Waleed, the days crept along painfully slow, I felt like I was trudging uphill the Sierra Nevada, but now? Time zips past me like fleeing cheetahs that I can never hope to keep sight of much less harness. K is right. In two weeks I'll be full-term. In perhaps a month's time I'll be staring into the eyes of my brand new son. While I have a little boy to wrap my arms around, somehow its been hard to wrap my mind around the fact that the being floating and prodding so gently from within will be here soon. Though in truth, he is already here and closer to me than anyone else in the world. Soon I will share him with his father, his brother, and all that love him so dearly already, but for now its us, for now he's mine alone.

If you're following via instagram you've likely already seen this picture, it's one of my favorites because it captures both what is and what is to come. Places I never thought I'd go, things I never thought I'd be. It's a reminder that despite the stresses of life and the monotony of laundry, I'm blessed. I'm thankful. Hope to hang on to this feeling in the sleepless nights to come. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, hope its a beautiful gratitude-filled day recharging your appreciation and contemplation for the rest of the year to come.

The three of us