Thanksgiving is a day I look forward to each and every year. I don’t have a lot of them left, so they mean more to me than ever. Until recently there wasn’t a single Thanksgiving that went by without there being an 18 plus pound, plump, juicy, stuffed turkey in my oven. It didn’t matter whether there were 15 people of just my wife and me. It didn’t matter if we were home, or in Turkey, or Israel, or Chabahar, Iran, or Spain, or Kuwait, we had a bird creating the essential aromas of the day in our oven.
This year we are having ten of our nearest and dearest family celebrate with us. We will eat too much, we will drink too much and we will laugh and smile too much. My feet will ache from standing in the kitchen for too many hours, my stomach will hurt because my belt is too tight, my face will hurt from laughing too much, and my heart will ache with the love I have for all my family, present or away.
During the three and a half day event I often catch myself looking at one of my guests and smiling as I think back over the years I have spent with them, how much they mean to me, and how far they have/we have come. Sometimes, most times, I get caught staring and I smile back because I think that my thoughts have mass and that mass has penetrated the bond between us.
In this world of insanity, terrorism, corruption, power mongering, cheating, lieing, stealing and you name it, there has to be a day when you can recharge your heart and soul, revitalize your beliefs; rejuvenate you faith in God, yourself and your loved ones, and refresh your outlook on the world. I choose Thanksgiving as that day, and it works for me, every single time.
It will be twelve long and arduous months before the next Thanksgiving, so I for one, am going to get the most that I can out of this one.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.