Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

I was curious about this day and did a bit of reading.  We all know about the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indian tribe in Massachusetts. The Pilgrims had survived their first brutal New England winter. Only half of the colonists who had made that voyage on the Mayflower had survived that winter. Only five women survived. Think about that.

When the settlers actually set foot on land an English-speaking Abenaki Indian approached them and this man introduced the pilgrims to a man that proved to be essential to their survival that winter, a Pawtuxet Indian named Squanto.  He taught the sick, stressed and very weak pilgrims the methods required to grow corn, catch river fish, extract the sap from maple trees, and which poisonous plants to avoid. He also facilitated an alliance with the nearby Wampanoag Indian tribe. Following the first successful corn harvest later that year, Governor William Bradford instituted a three-day celebration, and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indian tribe. Records show that 53 colonists and 90 Wampanoag attended the first Thanksgiving. I imagine that was truly a thankful celebration for sure.

However, it was not until October 1777 that all 13 colonies actually celebrated a day of Thanksgiving. The first national day of Thanksgiving was held in 1789, when President George Washington proclaimed Thursday, November 26 to be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer." Also, we were to be thankful for the opportunity to form a new nation with a constitutional government.

And that is the history of this day.

I have been very reflective this year about Thanksgiving, more than ever before. I have been wishing everyone crossing my path this week a really wonderful Happy Thanksgiving and telling them how much they mean to me. The response was pretty terrific actually. Mostly, people were initially stunned. Some cried. But, to a person every one of them responded so beautifully.  One woman at work kept thanking me over and over for saying this to her, that “it made her holiday”.

I am literally brimming with gratitude this Thanksgiving.  I feel it, really feel it.  I am even grateful for the not so great things in my life, and there are quite a few. But, they teach me things.  Maybe not what I want but they do teach me things, LIKE PATIENCE!  But, eventually “the not so great things” will move on, they always do.

I am grateful to my wonderful family 3000 miles away, but as close as one beat of my heart.

I am grateful for our friends who are dotted throughout the country; I love them all so very much. There is a saying that “friends become our chosen family”. I believe that this is so true.

I am so very grateful for our work, even with the struggles. I pray that it will make some difference in the world and if not, that researchers behind us learn from it and push forward.

And oh my gosh, I am grateful for my animals. My mother said to me years ago “it is good you have all these animals it keeps you human.” I was highly offended when she said this at the time. But, I see now she was totally right. They help notice the weather and temperature, the feel of the wind, flying bugs, squirrels in the trees, the size of nostrils, the sounds of things, the time to feed them, that a cat on your lap makes working at the computer easier, the joy of riding in the car with the windows open, the joy of seeing your loved one even if they have only been gone for five minutes, that walking with a horse can be one of the most peaceful things in the world, and a million other things.

I am grateful to have had the ability to live in so many places in America. I walked out on the patio at the ranch this morning and looked down toward the valley.  It is such a pretty site I thanked God for this blessing too.

We are going to dinner tonight at the home of a lovely family that has “adopted” us here in California. We are so grateful for this. The wonderful Bennett family in Indiana did this for us when we lived there. In our hearts we will stand with the Bennetts as they have their family Thanksgiving prayer.

I am offering a prayer for each of you who read this. That Thanksgiving reach down into your being and bless you. That you hug and kiss the people you love. That you know warmth and contentment. And that you don’t miss a minute of your blessed life. Because it really is blessed.  You just have to notice it.