Thanksgiving is More Than Turkey

It's official. I'm old. I started playing cards at the clubhouse with the ladies on Friday mornings. Then my husband and I started playing cards on Monday evenings with the same group. Last Monday night, after we got home, a lady from the group called and asked if I would fill in to play at the Senior Center the next morning, because they needed one more player. I got directions and went. We played all morning, had a nice lunch at the center (for $5!) and then played after lunch until 1:30 or so. I loved it. They asked me to play again next week. As I left the Senior Center, one of the ladies at the desk said she was so glad I came, and hoped I'd come back.
I've often wondered about the senior center, because I've been bored at home and they seemed to have daytime activities, which in our town are hard to find. But I figured there was some age limit to being an official "senior", and at 52, I figured I wasn't there yet. Well, evidently the ladies think I am (is that good or bad? ha.)
So now I play cards THREE times a week, and I'm having so much fun doing it. Between that and my secret shopping, knitting loom, blogging, pen pals, and my husband's days off, I'm BUSY. And I like it. My normal pattern is to isolate and insulate, and here I am "out there among the English" (from the movie Witness) and loving it. And no antidepressants. I'm feeling very hopeful.
I've started feeling very grateful, too. I don't have anything really to complain about. Oh, I have the same aches and pains of any 52 year old (Things don't work the way they used to, especially joints!) Yet, I have a nice warm house in this cold weather. I don't have to cook if I don't want to. (All my life, I'd been married to men who expected that meal on the table, and I bought into that being my JOB.) I have a cleaning lady! (Love her, love her.) And I have healthy children and granddaughter. My kids are coming home for the holidays. My husband has a stable job. I have a lot to be thankful for. And I am.
We also decided to give church a go. We were invited to a couple's SS classes this Sunday, and we're going to try it and see.
So have a very happy Thanksgiving. I know I will.