The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't

Eighteen years from now, when we have two kids in college and one in graduate school at Yale, so we can't afford a turkey, DWH and I will be sitting in our rocking chairs on our enormous wraparound porch, waiting to see their cars appear in the driveway so we can celebrate Thanksgiving with our babies. We may have to wait a while, because it's a long drive from New Haven, so we'll reminisce about Thanksgiving 2014.
We'll say things like, "Remember that Thanksgiving, right after we moved to North Carolina, and we lived in that little apartment? Sweet Pea was almost five and she caught a stomach virus that thwarted all our Thanksgiving plans? And, Goo was ten months old and would scream so loudly it shook the windows whenever I walked away? Remember when he used to let us call him Goo?
   "Remember how you went to K&W Cafeteria to pick up a couple of Thanksgiving dinner plates, because we had planned to go to South Carolina and Alabama for the holiday weekend and we didn't have any food in the fridge? Remember how Buddy wouldn't eat anything but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but he ate some applesauce with pumpkin and cranberry? Remember how the dressing tasted suspiciously like a crab cake, but the pecan pie was heavenly?
   "Remember how you went and searched out a candle for me to put on the table, just to make the atmosphere a little more cheerful, and because the whole apartment smelled like stomach virus poop?
   "Remember that? Do you remember how grateful we were to have our family all together, just you and me and our awesome three? Even though we were disappointed to miss the chance to see everyone else, even though there was fever and yellow gravy and piles of laundry to do, it was OK. We were thankful. We had what we needed. Remember?"


And, we will remember. We will laugh. We will still be thankful. And, then, we'll laugh some more.
We have had much to overcome this year, but God has tempered the obstacles with blessings. All that we have, we owe to his grace. It has always been and will always be thus.


“Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayer and worn with thanks.”
― Thomas Goodwin