Today is Thanksgiving and, even though I haven’t lived in the US in over 20 years, it’s still a day I love to celebrate. Yes, it’s a day of eating too much and football. But at it’s heart it’s a day of community, connection and gratitude.
Getting together with friends and family…catching up…eating, drinking and laughing together. Enjoying each others’ company.
This year my partner, David Toyne’s, sister and brother in law are coming to our house to celebrate – along with some friends and neighbours – many of whom will be celebrating their first Thanksgiving.
It always amazes and amuses me when I invite non-Americans to share Thanksgiving who have never experienced it before. They’ve seen it depicted on TV but are completely at a loss as to what to bring (an appetite if you come to my house because I do ALL of the cooking), what to wear (something comfortable) and what to do. LOL…what to do? We don’t have a secret handshake or anything…there really aren’t any protocols. You eat, you drink, if you’re in the US you watch or play football in your yard, you talk, you laugh and you complain about how much you’ve eaten.
For me, Thanksgiving, is also a time to give thanks. And I have so much to be thankful for this year.
First and foremost I’m thankful for my little family. My partner David and our little Cattle Dog/Blue Heeler, Bindi. She’s given us several health scares in her short life, but she is doing well now and she’s added even more love (and exponentially more chaos) to our house.
I’m thankful for the beautiful house we live in. If you haven’t heard, 8 months ago David and I bought an almost new (less than a year old) house on an acre of land in North Queensland (23 Ks south of Townsville).
We LOVE it there. Perfect weather (300 days of sunshine) and a laid back lifestyle.
The house ticked ALL of our boxes and is stunning and highly functional.
We are semi off the grid with our own bore water (complete with brand new reverse osmosis system), our own septic system and 14KW of solar on the roof). I love seeing the energy credit grow every month!
The outside is a blank canvas and, as I write this, we are:
✅ Building a shed
✅ Planning a mixed fruit orchard (you can grow ANYTHING up here)
✅ Rendering and painting the house
✅ Figuring out the driveway and additional landscaping
Within the next 1 – 2 years we also plan to put in a pool.
Life is good!
And of course none of this would be possible without my clients and my community.
So a BIG thank you to you.
To those who have hired me to:
🙏 Speak at their conference or to their senior leadership teams
🙏 Facilitate leadership strategy days
🙏 Consult or advise
🙏 Train your teams.
And to those who have liked, commented or shared my posts. To those who follow me and don’t comment, but take me aside when we meet IRL to tell me that something I wrote resonated with them or changed their thinking.
🙏 Thank you 🙏
I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving – whether or not you celebrate it.
