I have always loved Thanksgiving. The holiday that MOST people can agree on. Who in their right mind isn’t thankful for something. You can’t argue about Thanksgiving. I mean, I realize that people call it Turkey Day or do not give true thanks to the God that has blessed them, but most people are thankful for something.
I sit here on the day before Thanksgiving and I can’t help but think about years past.
Thanksgiving Eve 1993 – My grandpa had been having lots of heart trouble. He had open heart surgery earlier that week. I remember that his situation was dire and the hospital had given us an entire waiting room for our personal use. We were sleeping, eating, and spending our time between updates from nurses and the two-at-a-time visits. I remember barely sleeping, and the nights turning to morning in a blur. Very early that morning, his heart finally gave up.
I remember being inconsolable. What is strange is my most vivid memory is Pastor Swanson arriving shortly after he was gone. I remember him hugging me. I remember his cologne. I remember the feel of his shirt. I remember his coat. I remember where we were standing. The rest of the night is a blur. It seems strange to remember THAT, but that is what I remember of that Thanksgiving Eve.
Honestly, I don’t even remember if we had Thanksgiving dinner that year. I really don’t even remember his funeral. I just remember him being gone and how much it hurt.
Years went on, and new Thanksgivings softened the memories. I began to love Thanksgiving again. Some years were rough, but most were great.
Thanksgiving Eve 2005 – Again, so much time is a blur. We had had two months of insanity. A sudden cross-country move and then the early birth of this spectacular little boy stretched us thin. From the day he was born, he had been a NICU resident. If you had been in NICU, the emotional roller coaster is exhausting. We so wanted our baby boy home by Thanksgiving, and God answered our prayers. We brought him “Home” to my parents house where we were squatting, on Thanksgiving Eve. I remember feeling that life had made a full circle from death unto new life 12 years later.
I sit here on a rather ordinary day that happens to be another Thanksgiving Eve. Sure, we have been fighting a nasty little cold and fever thing, and my husband is overwhelmed by food poisoning, but nothing too exciting. It is a pretty ordinary day. I am so thankful for a nice ordinary day.
I am so thankful for how extraordinarily I am blessed!
I am so thankful on this Thanksgiving Eve that I am surrounded in my little home, by my little family, and that God has giving me that.
