Time Warp Tuesday: Thanksgiving

Let’s do the Time Warp again!

Welcome to the ninth installment of my blog hop/writing exercise called Time Warp Tuesday here on Four of a Kind!

Today is also the twenty-second day of NaBloPoMo, so if you found your way here from the Blogroll (I’m #313 on the list of 2,216) or the open thread, a warm welcome to you! This post is what I hope and intend will be the twenty-second of thirty posts, in thirty days, here on my blog. I am excited to be 2/3 done now and feel confident that I will will be able to go the distance. I appreciate your encouragement and I am excited to be doing NaBloPoMo for the first time this year!

In case you missed my original post about Time Warp Tuesdays, here is the background of how and why I came up with the idea. If you are here to participate and link up your post, you can do so with the Linky Tools at the end of this post (or if you have any difficulty using it, you can share the link to your post in the comment section here).

The gist of Time Warp Tuesday is to revisit and share some of our favorite blog entries from our archives and reflect on our journeys since we wrote them.

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The theme for this week’s Time Warp Tuesday is: Thanksgiving

With it being the week of Thanksgiving, last week I invited those doing the Time Warp to choose a post from your archives in which you talked about something(s) in your life that you are thankful for. I know being able to focus on what I am grateful for in my life has helped me during difficult and uncertain times, as well in keeping a positive attitude in my day to day life. Then write a new post on your blog about why you chose the post that you did and what has happened in your life since.

Participants can write about whatever you want in your new blog entries. However, for those who might have needed some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider: Why did you pick this post? Has your perspective changed since the day you wrote your original post? Are you still thankful for the same thing(s) that you were back then? Do you think you would still feel the same way if you were writing your post today? What have you learned about yourself, your family and your life since you wrote your original post? What do you feel thankful for today, this month and/or this year?

Note: If you have an idea for a future Time Warp topic, theme and/or writing prompt, please feel free to share it in the comment section or send me an email. If I choose to use your idea, I will give you credit and link to your blog that week. Thank you to all who have already shared suggestions for future weeks! I do plan to use your ideas soon, but thought it would be nice to do a “holiday themed” Time Warp this week, which Jen from Here We Go Again actually did suggest (to do holiday themed topics at the appropriate times of year). Thanks Jen!

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Time Warp Tuesday: Thanksgiving

I wrote the post that I chose to reflect on this week three years ago. It was one of twelve monthly “Remembering Molly” posts that I wrote in the year following our baby girl’s birth and death in April 2008. This one was written in November 2008, seven months after our daughter Molly Marie was born and died. It was close to Thanksgiving that year, so I did talk about the upcoming holiday and what I was thankful for in my life at the time.

Here is the link to the post that I chose:

Remembering Molly (7 months)

Please go and read the post that I am reflecting on today (and comment if you choose), if you haven’t already, and then come back here to see what I have to say about my journey since I wrote it.

***Here is where you left off before you stopped to read my old post.***

As with so many posts that I have chosen to reflect on as a part of this Time Warp Tuesday blog hop/writing exercise over the past few months, revisiting this one was bittersweet. Remembering what it felt like seven months after Molly’s birth and death, during a time when we didn’t know if we would ever be able to bring another living child into our family, is both painful and inspiring. Looking back I am proud of myself that in the midst of my grief I was able to recognize that there was much for my family and me to be thankful for that year as we approached the Thanksgiving holiday that year. This is one of my favorite parts of my post:

We do realize that there is “always, always, always something to be thankful for.” I recently found that quote on a beautiful ceramic heart, with a cross carved inside it, at a Hallmark store and bought it for our home as a reminder that no matter what trials we face in life, we have more blessings than challenges if we take the time to name, be grateful for and focus on them. 

The ceramic piece that I mention and the cross that the post is primarily about both have prominent places in our new home (which we moved to in July), where we and our guests can continue to see them often. As we approach Thanksgiving this week, I find myself facing some challenges in my life and reading my old post, including the quote from it that I shared here, are helpful reminders for me. I want to try to focus on what is going right in my life and my loved ones who help to make me feel good about myself, as opposed to what is wrong and those who do not seem to care much about me or treat me kindly. It isn’t always easy to do this, but it is certainly a healthier way to think and to live. 

I wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate the holiday)! I also hope that you are able to be aware of all that is right in your life and that you have to be thankful for during this holiday season.

Thank you for reading and for doing the Time Warp with me this week. I look forward to your feedback about this post, as well as reading and commenting on all of yours. Please feel free to comment even if you didn’t write your own Time Warp Tuesday post this week. It is not too late to participate if you are interested, click here for the details.

Below you will find next week’s topic and I hope that you will join me back here on Tuesday when we “do the Time Warp again!”

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The topic for next week’s Time Warp Tuesday is: Post Publishing Fear
 
Note: Special thanks to Jjraffe from Too Many Fish To Fry who suggested next week’s topic! If you have an idea for a future Time Warp topic, theme and/or writing prompt, please feel free to share it in the comment section or send me an email. If I choose to use your idea, I will give you credit and link to your blog that week.

As Bloggers we often share openly and candidly about our lives, experiences, hopes and fears. As a result, sometimes we may have second thoughts about publishing some of our blog entries. Choose a post from your archives that you were most afraid to publish. Then write a new post on your blog about why you chose the post that you did and what has happened in your life since.

Participants can write about whatever you want in your new blog entries. However, for those who might need some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider:

Why did you pick this post? What kind of response did you get from readers in regards to your post? Did that validate your choice to publish it? Has your perspective changed since the day you wrote your original post? Do you think you would still feel the same way if you were writing your post today? What have you learned about yourself, your family and your life since you wrote your original post? 

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For those new to Time Warp Tuesday, here is a quick recap of how it works:

1) Browse through your old blog entries to find one that fits the topic for the given week. The topic is shared at the end of the previous week’s “Time Warp Tuesday” post here on my blog (see above for next week’s topic).

2) Write a new blog post in which you introduce, link to and then reflect on your journey since you wrote the older blog post and put it up on your blog on Tuesday. Please include this link http://chicagobensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Time%20Warp%20Tuesdays in your blog entry, so your readers can find their way to my post with the list of other participants, in case they would like to read more or participate themselves.

3) Share the link to your new post here on Tuesday and then visit, read and comment on the other blogs.

4) After you have done all of these things, you are welcome to grab the code for the the Time Warp Tuesday button by clicking here and put it on your blog. The link will take you to a Google Doc where you can copy the code. If your browser does not allow access to your computer’s clipboard, you can use Ctrl-C for Copy and Ctrl-V for Paste, or use your browser’s Edit menu.

5) Check back here every Tuesday to find out the new topic, theme or question for the following week (I welcome your ideas and suggestions) and then return to Step 1 of this recap to participate.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you back here on next Tuesday when we’ll “do the time warp again!”

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Thank you again for reading, commenting and participating in my Time Warp Tuesday blog hop. Link up below and click through to visit others who are doing the Time Warp! (If you have any trouble with Linky Tools, please share the link to your blog entry in the comment section.). Also, please don’t forget to comment on my post here, as I do not have a link to this (my own) post below, but I would still really appreciate your feedback. xoxo

1. HWSL

2. Stumbling Grace

3. Thanksgiving