THANKSGIVING 2012

Thanksgiving, for me, has evolved over the years and it seems that it’s not the same as my life travels through the different phases of life.  Memory recall is something I have in poor quantity but it seems that food and smells seem to increase the aptitude.  I remember during grade school Thanksgiving was not so much about eating as it was about drawing turkeys, learning about the Indians taking care of the pilgrims and showing my new acquired knowledge to my parents.  Then there was the era of high school, away from home and old grade school friends.  My thanks being measured in how soon and for how long I could be back home for the holiday.  At that time in my life the meaning of Thanksgiving was measured more in what was to come than what had occurred during the previous year.

It is the high school period Thanksgivings that I am able to recall (not vividly) but at least not from hearsay memories alone.  I can remember the bus rides home to Portland and onto Arlington unless the holiday celebration was at Grandma’s house in Portland.  I remember the most thanks in my mind at that time was the reprieve from what seemed like an incarceration and an exile from the familiar.  I wasn’t as much that I was thankful as it was just happy for the break.  I do remember it as being a time of family gathering, a time for extended family to spend time together.  Thanksgiving and most other holiday gatherings were spent at my Aunt Louise and Uncle Johnny’s place.  Their house was the only one that could take care of the numbers.   Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa’s child producing years, I had no shortage of uncles and aunts to relate stories of the past, and no shortage of cousins to spend time with.  I wasn’t nearly as thankful then as I am now recalling those times.  Like most things in life we tend to overlook the sweetness at the time and fail to give it full value.  I’m not really sure that is a universal fact of life, but at least it speaks to my own.

The main thing I am gleaning out of this token bit of recall is that Thanksgiving has had a lot of different meanings for me.  I’m not sure of the exact timing of when I started to understand the meaning of sincere thanks and its’ relationship to the holiday.  I am sure today that understanding of things comes in two general ways, an “ah-ha” moment or a metamorphosis from child to adult.  Mine was apparently the latter.  It seems to me that thanksgiving requires the loss of narcissistic tendencies and the emergence of compassion and awareness of conditions.  This year, the year 2012, has seen a lot of things occur both personally, for family and friends, and for our country. Not everything has been gentle and sweet, but all are cause for Thanksgiving and this is my thanksgiving statement and prayer for this year.

I am thankful for: For a wife who loves me and shows it daily through kindness, caring, friendship and laughter; Family and friends that have held me in their minds and hearts regardless of my warts and differences of opinion; My (our) God who has faithfully covered me, through all the trials and tribulations, in ways not even known; The growing understanding that good is hiding in everything that happens in life if we are patient and prayerful;  The roof over my head, the clothes on my back, the food that feeds my body, the forces of the Holy Spirit that feeds my soul.  Thank you Lord.