Grace and Gratitude

 Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in America.  It has always been my favorite holiday.  Before our parents died Rick and I celebrated Thanksgiving in a very traditional way, eating with family and usually helping his mom put up her Christmas decorations and then coming home to eat leftovers.

After our parents died, for a couple of years we served food at shelters.  We began to see that we had friends who had  no place to go  or anyone to be with, and we would hear nieces and nephews talk of people they knew who were in the same position.  I began to cook big Thanksgiving meals and we opened our doors to friends, co-workers and any family who wanted to come.  There was no judgment at the Watson house, race, sexual preference, religion, etc, none of that mattered.  We offered a table full of food and a house full of grace and gratitude.  There were usually so many here in this small cottage that there were people eating in every room but the bathroom.  Kids played in the field behind the house and adults walked the woods after stuffing themselves.  It seemed no one ever wanted to leave.

That's when I began to realize just how much I truly loved Thanksgiving.  For me it became a day to acknowledge and share,  a day of grace and gratitude.

Tomorrow will be the first time in my life that I have spent Thanksgiving alone.  I will cook myself a small meal and share the small turkey breast with the dogs.  I have been invited to eat with others, but Covid is rampant in our community.  This morning I can think of at least 15 people I know who are sick.

So I choose to sacrifice with the hope that next year we can gather with love, food and celebration.

It is still my favorite holiday, the one that I believe should be filled with grace and gratitude.  It is my first Thanksgiving without Rick and as my friend Christine so eloquently put it yesterday, this loss brings awareness of why the Victorians chose to wear black in that year of mourning.  

My prayer for this holiday tomorrow, is that we will all be here next year.  I will cook and open my doors with hopes that once again the house is filled with grace and gratitude and the table is filled with food.

May all of you experience kindness, health, grace and gratitude. For all of those like me, whose year has been one of loss, hang on, don't lose sight of that tiny stream of light/hope, you are not alone.