Thanksgiving

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I am remembering a time, way back when I was a little girl, enjoying a large family gathering for Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa’s. Their 100+ acre farm was homesteaded probably around 1920, and became a working farm with fruit & nut orchards, vegetable & flower gardens, honey bees, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, hay and corn fields. Their two story prairie style farmhouse had a wrap around porch and an outhouse, livestock barns, cellar, and tool shed. Placed on lush fertile land overlooking a river with a swimmin’ creek behind the house. The bent willow chairs they are sitting on in the photo were made by grandpa, one of his chairs can be found in a local history museum. The photo looks like they are resting after a long day of working the fields, housework, selling farm produce and looking after their young children.

Grandma’s kitchen was filled with all the good smells of rolls and pies baking, turkey roasting, mashed potatoes and gravy, all cooked on a wood fired stove. (Grandma was so excited when she finally got an electric stove. No more kindling to chop) Jars of canned fruits, jams, and honey glistened in the sun lit kitchen, and grandpa would take out his fiddle and play a jig. Really wonderful memories. A long table would be laid out, filled with food, all my aunts, uncles and cousins would be laughing, talking and eating. When they finally got a black and white TV, football would be playing. After the meal, all the cousins would go outside and run around like maniacs, play touch football, swing from a rope in the hay barn, stare in wonder and cautioned not to go inside the hog pen or we’d be their dinner.

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Today, the sun is shining and I am thankful for my abundance. I have food in the fridge and cupboards, I have a job and do not have Covid 19. As far as I know, no one in my family have acquired the virus or died. I called my 86 year old mother this morning, she is well, and sheltering in place as much as possible. My son, who is in the Marine Corps, is taking some leave time at his father’s house. I am home with my kitties and a day of making art.

I see lines of people that do not have food or jobs, looking for some kind of relief from charities or the government. Many people have died from the pandemic, and probably many more, before the vaccine can get to everyone around the world. The government is struggling, many people are divided along political lines. Our current times are stressful, worrisome and I am not wanting to watch the news everyday because it is just too much. I suspect it is too much for most people to deal with.

Where am I going with this ~ just to say to hang in there, be glad for whatever blessings and abundance you have, be grateful for the people you love and love you back. It will get better. My thanksgiving prayer is that we all survive the pandemic, get jobs, and find peace in your heart towards those you don’t agree with and remember that we are all children of God.

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free, ‘Tis the gift to come down where I ought to be; And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gained, To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed; to turn, turn, will be my delight. Till by turning, turning we come round right.