Thanksgiving

The silver is polished, the table is set, the flowers arranged and everything is cooked except the turkey. Each step of the prepartions were reminders of loved ones who are no longer here. I prepared the turkey stuffing my Mother and mother-in law taught me to make, combining the best of each recipe. Now, my son has added his twist to it, dried cranberries, thus the tradition is carried forward.

As I polished the silverware I recalled when my parents gifted us with it on our wedding and felt like my mother was standing beside me as I polished away. I arranged the china settings carefully, chuckling as I thought of my mother-in law building the sets, piece by piece with each fill up at the gas station. Little things can jog my memory and sweep me back in time and I'm grateful for the reminder.

My Dad is ninety and living in assisted living in Ann Arbor, MI. I'm so grateful that I was able to visit with him a week ago and thankful for the many weekly phone conversations we share. This Thanksgiving, as we say our prayers we will be holding up three family members who are in need of healing thoughts and prayers. Ray has three melanomas and had a procedure today to remove one of them; Sandy has brain, lung and bone cancer and is in the middle of her radiation treatments and finally Janie has multiple lung growths that the doctors have not been able to figure what they are. I'm letting go and letting God.

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving and enjoy the gift of the "present" and I pray that we will be kind and thoughtful of each other and enjoy the opportunity of creating memories for our children and grandchildren.