Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is just a few sleeps away, and I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for my family and friends. We are so blessed to have one another, to live normal (well, at least I think we're normal), hopefully healthy lives, to have hope for the future, and fond memories to keep us company through long winters. Best of all we have each other to enjoy today, in the moment.

When I was growing up, we always had big Thanksgiving dinners with aunts and uncles and cousins. My mom and her siblings took turns having it at their houses. We usually needed two or three tables "with all the leaves," Mom would say, to accommodate everyone. After dinner we would take a walk, then play board games. Through the years my siblings and I married and moved away, as did our cousins. Aunts and uncles passed away, then my own parents passed away. Now our Thanksgivings are much quieter, smaller affairs. It's a different era. I treasure those memories of the big dinners with relatives, but find myself in the position of creating new traditions with my daughters. We still eat in the dining room with the "good china," and all of us pitch in on the cooking. We still play games, after dinner. There are family recipes we always make. It honors those who went before, it honors those who may someday arrive into our lives, that we keep these traditions.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with "in the moment" moments! If you are with loved ones, really listen. Share your stories. If you are alone, talk to God, talk to your pets, talk to the pictures of those who have passed on. Let everyone know how much you love them. Let's give thanks.