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A song of thanksgiving
It was a Thanksgiving I’d never forget. A few years ago, I stayed home while my family traveled out of state for the holidays. Fresh out of college and wanting to assert my independence, I didn’t let my grandmother, who lived down the road from me, know that I would be home alone. The day before Thanksgiving, I drove home from work in some light snow, thinking it would stop after a couple inches.
The importance of saying thank you
When I was a child, my mother taught me the importance of saying thank you. If someone complimented me at church or school, she said I was to express gratitude for their kind words. When someone gave me a gift for Christmas or my birthday, she would have me write a thank-you note. Saying thank you was important to my mother, and I also came to value that in my life.
Faith and thanksgiving
Ever since I can remember, Thanksgiving has been my favorite annual holiday. We were a typical New England family that would prepare a typical New England Thanksgiving feast, and as we sat around the table everyone would express one thing they were thankful for. As a young boy I thought it was pretty cool that a federal government would set aside one day each year for its citizens to stop their busy lives and gather with family to give thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us. This led to a lifelong infatuation with Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower and these courageous folks that travelled across the Atlantic Ocean in the fall of 1620.
Learning to practice gratitude
The year 2006 began like any other year – slow and steady. But by March, everything began to spiral out of control. My mother unexpectedly passed away while on vacation, my daughter began to have major issues at school, and I found myself the primary care-giver to an aging parent. Everything was overwhelming me, and I just couldn’t seem to get out of a very real funk.