Thanksgiving

There are several words that remind us of this Holiday: Turkey, Indian, Harvest, Pilgrim, Reunion. This reminds me that we do need reminders. We recently had the privilege of a mini-family reunion. No, not an extended family but a brother and a sister and their spouses. We live far apart so it is difficult, especially as seniors, to get together so when we do, it is a very special time.

What happens? Among several things, conversation, reminiscing, discovery. My brother is a twin and so is my brother-in-law. I know a lot about my brothers because they are twelve years younger and there are memories galore. Even so, I learned things I never knew. Somehow, the conversation went way back to our military days, I served during the WW II era and my brother-in-law, Larry, during the Korean conflict.

This led back to elementary school days when I learned for the first time that he was ill and was kept back one year even after considerable pressure on the administration to let him make up for that lost time. I was more fortunate. I missed several weeks in the first grade but upon my return, my very special teacher kept me after school so I could catch up.

We are never too old to learn but we can get to the place where we need reminders to dig into our past as well as dream of tomorrow. Thanksgiving Day ought to be one of those reminder days. It of course should remind us of its intent: to give thanks. Thanks for what? Our heritage, our ability to enjoy family and friends, to linger longer than usual at the Thanksgiving table and reminisce over that for which we are thankful.

Learning that my brother-in-law entered the military service later than his twin brother was but a fraction of where our conversations went. We overlooked the fact that my sister-in-law had a birthday the day before we got together. To help celebrate our time together, I had ordered two dozen roses to share the occasion which we awkwardly also used to celebrate a belated birthday.

Do we need reminders to give thanks? Does Thanksgiving Day slip by primarily as one of those rare four-day holidays? Are there some ways in which we could make Thanksgiving Day extra special this year? Maybe an invitation to someone who most likely will celebrate alone? And one more thought: maybe we can give thanks and say thank you more often during the next year.