Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. These past few days, as the weather has turned colder and more seasonal, I found myself taking deep breaths and turning my face upward to feel the chilly air blow across my face. There is a certain smell that I associate with this time of year. I can't quite accurately describe it, but I know what it is. It is the signal that winter is coming and the holidays are upon us.

On the actual day, I love the smell that knocks you over when you walk into the house and the aroma of turkey wafts through the air. The gathering of family, usually the same faces and same stories in tow each year, brings a sort of comfort that although some circumstances may have changed during the year, some things stay the same. My parents have passed on, and I have only one brother. This is the one day that we are certain to see each other. Today my son made the trek that so many college students make....he came home for the first time after being away for three months at college. For all of these gifts, I am thankful.

Now, you may be thinking that I am painting a picture of some type of Norman Rockwell scene; believe me it is not. If I allowed myself, I could go on and on about what is not right. However, I choose to focus on these things that I have instead of things I do not. I choose to be grateful for the many gifts I have been given, instead of dwelling on the way it is not.

Tomorrow, as I bid my students goodbye for a long weekend, I am painfully aware that for some of them it will be fraught with tension and unhappiness. (Holidays are good for that sometimes.) Heaven knows that there have been holidays that for one reason or another, were painful for me. I get it, but there is something else I get.....that no matter how dismal our situations may seem, there is always something for which we can be thankful....even if it is just turning our faces upward and feeling the breeze.