Thanksgiving 2008
It's his favorite holiday. And what he loves the most is to have all of us together for a Thanksgiving meal.Every other year it happens. All of the kids come to us for Thanksgiving dinner. We do it on Friday, rather than Thursday, so that those who have in-laws nearby can spend the official day with them. We figure it is about the togetherness, not the precise day.
This was an off-year. T&A were scheduled to spend Thanksgiving with her family. S2C2 were going to Chris's family and A&A would be with her family on Thursday. So we invited ourselves to Bonnie's and planned a dinner for Friday with just T&A missing but in our thoughts.
Then we got an urgent email from Tom. He and Anastasia were not going to be with her family and could they come up for part of Thanksgiving? The plan was that they'd come to town on Wednesday and spend the evening with Sherry, come down and stay with us, accompany us to Bonnie's, have A&A come here for Friday breakfast and then leave for home sometime after breakfast. That way they'd get to see everyone. Of course they could.
Then last night it all changed. The phone call came around eight o'clock. They'd been in the car for ever, it seemed, and had missed dinnertime at Sherry's and couldn't get there before the kids had to go to bed, and they were coming directly to us. So we quickly talked to Sherry and she consulted with Chris and now they will be joining the rest of us for breakfast on Friday. Joe will get his wish -- everyone together for a Thanksgiving meal, just not the one people usually think of.
He's thankful. I'm thankful, too. It is good to have everyone together. Mostly, though, I'm thankful to have him. Thinking back to the events of Memorial Day, this could have been a vastly different Thanksgiving Day for me, for all of us. I'm thankful to Abington Hospital's Emergency Room for their proficient handling of our emergency. I'm thankful to Dr. Cohen for his calm competence. Mostly I'm thankful to God that I have my husband by my side this Thanksgiving.
The picture of us was taken by my California cousin when she was in town this September. I don't know why Joe has a sort of Clintonesque leer on his face. He's ordinarily not one to leer. But it is us, together. And I'm thankful. Leer and all.
Comments
Karen
Gods Grace and Love, *karendianne.
It's always nice to take time out during the year to count your blessings and to take stock of what it is that we are thankful for. It's easy to fall into a pattern of wanting to feel sorry for ourselves when life doesn't take the turns we expect it to and it takes you down a path you didn't want to travel and that you are railing against having to walk. But there are always those rays of sunshine that remind us why we are on this earth in the first place, and there are so many things we can be thankful for, but chief among these is life itself. To wake up each day, see the sun, or the rain or the snow, as the case may be, to breathe and be aware of our senses and all they take in each day...that in itself is a gift more precious than any amount of material wealth could ever give us. And that in itself is a cause for gratitude.