Here's to Thanksgiving

 

Here's to the holiday which first got me wondering about all those ancestors who made up my (very) extended family. To the ones whose stories I knew—and the ones whose stories I hadn't yet heard. More than that, here's to those family members as yet so completely unknown that it may take years more to even discover their names, let alone their life story.

That, in a nutshell, is what Thanksgiving did for me. Oh, of course I take time to recall all the good times for which I'm grateful—and there have been plenty of those blessings to inspire giving thanks. But sometimes, in the loneliness, in the struggle, in the disappointment, there is just that spark which, though nearly invisible at first, eventually sets in motion a series of events which we couldn't have anticipated—maybe even couldn't have interpreted as it first unfolded.

Thanksgiving isn't really the great meal hours in the preparation for the holiday's featured event. Nor is it the big game, or even the parade televised from miles away. It's really about being together, and being grateful for that togetherness—even if right now, there is more yearning for that togetherness than actual physical closeness. Sometimes the glass half empty can turn into the glass half full. For that, I can be thankful.