We all have those days. When nothing seems to go your way. When you feel like you’re in a hole/ditch/closet/swamp/jam/hell/parking garage you can’t find your way out of.

I’ve had months like that. Long stretches of bad situations, little things strung together. When you’ve come to terms with one, there’s another. And another. I would tell myself, “OK, this is the last bad thing. There can’t be anymore!”

I learned to never tell myself that anymore.

These are the hardest times to feel gratitude. In fact, I honestly couldn’t do it. I couldn’t appreciate my health or a full fridge or the fact I don’t live in an abandoned airplane somewhere at the South Pole. (I had a dream about that last night.)

I remember being so annoyed whenever my mom would say, “You should be thankful for your two legs and your two arms.” I would roll my eyes. “Everyone has those,” I’d think (but not dare say).

Truth is, some people don’t. Some people can’t get around as easily as me. Some people spend months in hospitals, hooked up to machines. Some people don’t have warm beds or access to education or a car that starts without having to hot wire it. I’m even sure someone has lived in an abandoned plane at the South Pole.

I’ve never been much of a Thanksgiving person, except that it’s the only time I can, without embarrassment or judgement, eat an entire box of Stovetop stuffing. But this year, I feel differently.

This year, despite the dark clouds still circling, I can finally see the light. The light that was always there. The light that’s been my son, my husband, my dogs, my friends and family, my health, the opportunity to do what I love for a living, the fact that my fridge is always fully stocked. It can be incredibly hard to find the simple, small, seemingly inconsequential things to be thankful for, but those are actually the stuff that’s most important.

So, hoping you all find your moments of gratitude today.

And there’s no shame in Stovetop stuffing.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!