As hard as it is to believe, once again the holiday season is upon us. While I have always looked forward to the holidays, this year I am especially excited to see them arrive. For me, the holidays have always been about family. After all of the struggles 2018 has brought, I have a renewed appreciation for both my immediate and extended family.

This year has been a tough one no doubt, but it has helped me realize how trivial many of my day to day problems really are. When Hurricane Florence took away most of the “necessities” of modern life, I (like most) had to lean on family and friends to help me get through the storm; as it turned out, that’s all I really needed. Life didn’t stop when the electricity, cell phones, and internet stopped working, but it did slow down a little, and for that I am grateful. For a brief period in time, conversations and board games took the place of the internet and TV. People actually visited each other instead of merely texting “how r u doing?”. For the first time in a long time, I actually appreciated the simple things, like having a roof over our heads and sitting down as a family to have a hot meal.

While life has returned to normal for the most part, things still seem different somehow, and I believe it’s because I realized how much I really have to be thankful for. This year more than ever, I am looking forward to spending the holidays with my family. I hope everyone can find a way to look past the doom and gloom and find something to be truly thankful for this holiday season. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.