Gone Feasting

I give thanks for my blessings every day, but I try to make a special effort on Thanksgiving. In addition to cooking up a storm, I tell those I love how much I appreciate them being in my life.

This year the gratitude is a little different. We relocated and uprooted our kids from the only home they've ever known, survived an entire summer of brutal storms while surrounded by total strangers, and faced cancer, major surgery and broken bones. I don't think anyone could say that we were particularly blessed by these events, but we stayed together through them. We lent each other the strength to get through them.

We are a family, so we coped with everything as a family should: together.

My daughter made a "tree of thanks" at school. It's covered with autumn leaf-shaped cutouts, on which she wrote what she is grateful for, and says exactly how I feel, far better than I can:

Fun toys
My teacher
A bike to ride
A house to live in
Food to eat
Good Friends
My family
God

Happy Thanksgiving.