What I Am Thankful For (Thanksgiving 2020)

Thanksgiving is a time to sit down with one’s family and enjoy some good food. While each family celebrates this holiday differently, however, there is one thing that we all do collectively together. On this day, we all stop and look around at the people and things that we are grateful for in our lives. For some people--this is their family members, others it is their careers, and for some others, it is for themselves and what they have accomplished in the year. Whatever the reason you celebrate this holiday, just know that you deserve to treat yourself to all the cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie-- to your heart’s and stomach’s content!

This year, as much as I am going to enjoy some good food and gather with a small group of family members--I know who exactly I am grateful for. His name is BEA, which is short for Beatus; and it is Latin for ‘Blessed’. He is my pet donkey. And I always think who is more blessed, him or I? The story of BEA is a mystery to me. I don't know where he came from, who his parents were, what he was like as a young foal...BEA was a rescue donkey that my parents bought from their friends. He was gray, fuzzy, and grumpy (like he was an old man). BEA wasn’t really socialized with people, so he was skittish and flinched whenever someone tried to reach out to touch him. My parents thought they couldn’t keep him because of his behavior--but I felt that BEA (his name was Burt at that time) needed some TLC and didn’t deserve to be handed off to multiple owners because no one knew or wanted to know how to handle him. That is really where BEA and my story really begins; I decided then to learn what I could about donkeys, and after that, I named him Beatus AKA--BEA for short. He became a part of my life--and I didn’t realize I wasn’t living my life until I had him.

Now, you might be asking yourself the big ‘WHY?’ question as you read this article. What could a donkey be something to be grateful for? So, I will tell you. I am grateful for BEA because he came into my life and helped me find my inner strength. Every day, with his stubborn and mischievous donkey ways--he shows me that through persistence, hard work, determination, and unconditional love that anything I set out to accomplish in my life will work out in my favor. He also showed me how to love another being and accept them for their faults. There were times where I thought I was insane for adopting him--he was an older donkey and hard to handle on a good day. He would bite or try to kick; he really enjoyed chasing our other smaller farm animals around the barnyard. But through it all, I learned that patience was the key to handling him. And I needed to have patience with myself because working with him wasn't something I had a lot of experience doing. It has been 2 years now and BEA has been by my side ever since. Everyday, I am able to learn something new about him, and learn something new about myself.

Life is hard sometimes, and Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the hardships of what you have endured but also to acknowledge and celebrate those who stood by you and supported you through it all. For me, my gratitude goes to BEA. I am grateful for every moment I get to spend time with him. Plus, who wouldn’t be happy to have a donkey? They are absolutely the sweetest, kind-hearted, and interesting animals that have ever graced the planet! If you don’t know what donkeys look like or how they act--go look them up-- you will be surprised at what they can do.