Thanks and Giving

By Michael L. Wojciechowski

 

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble. Turkey Day is upon us. Smoked turkey, baked ham, stuffing,
cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, dinner rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie,
and pecan pie. Food that your stomach appreciates and thanks you for eating a delicious home
cooked meal. Giving thanks for sitting at a feast fit for kings and queens.

The fall season is a great reason for families to start enjoying get togethers. Moms,
dads, kids, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents. Family and extended family. Sometimes in
front of a roaring fire too. Getting together watching football, reminiscing about old times, what
we remember about who’s house we went to for Thanksgiving year after year.

Saying a prayer at the beginning of the meal thanking God for the people you’re
breaking bread with and this bountiful feast. Thanking him for being able to sit with family as we
get older. Missing those who have passed on but remembering what they contributed to the
feast, the conversations, the laughter and sometimes the tears too.

As we get older, we become the elders of the family. Our kids become adults and
parents. The circle of life again shines upon our family at the Thanksgiving Day table. And as
the patriarchs and matriarchs of the family, it is we who are the ones giving enlightenment and
wisdom to our younger family members. Helping them, getting them to understand and to
remember these blessed times of being able to sit with family.

As in all things, one day we too shall pass. And it will only be our family that will miss
and remember us, appreciating what we brought to these gatherings. The smile on our face,
our laughter, our surprised look on our face hearing jokes being told.

I remember as a child, my aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpa, my mom and dad,
my sisters and my cousins. Many now gone. But the memories linger with each passing holiday
that comes and goes. And what I learned by appreciating those memories and making some of
our own.

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