Family Gratitude

What’s Thanksgiving for?

Used to be traditional in relation to a farmer’s field. The celebration of the harvest.

Today it’s turkey. Plates of multi-coloured vegetables. Pumpkin pie.

Tonight my mother did a round table.

“What are you grateful for?” she asked.

One by one we expressed our gratitude. A lot for family. Especially for health. For our food. Where we live. The weather.

She came to my son.

“I’m grateful for my mum being here.”

That made me melt.

I’m three hours away. A hop across the pond so to speak. But no longer in shouting distance.

As the evening culminated I reminisced on what Thanksgiving really means to me.

It’s a reason to be with family. To be together. To share a meal.

To celebrate togetherness.

Earlier in the day my mother and I set the table. We’d already stuffed the turkey and put it in the oven. More then once she said how glad she was that I was there.

But the prayer before dinner wasn’t just for all of us in the circle. It includes those that are no longer with us. That are still part of us.

Even our furry family.

That’s family gratitude.