Please leave your Thanksgiving Thoughts here. Giving Thanks is soothing to the soul.

We are a little more than 1 week away from Thanksgiving. When I think about last year this time, I was in a down emtional state. My father had passed in the spring fo 2007, my mother in the summer of 2006, and my step dad in 2005 1 week after hurricane Katrina. All unexpected. I had not had time to breathe. I had spent 3 years caring for sick, making arrangements, porbates, succession, title affairs, settling estates, and legal affairs.
My goal was to just get back to my life.
Fast forward to 2008.
I still, in quiet moments, when I wish I had my parents back I think of:
The things I would ask them.
The 'history' we never had time to discuss.
The whys?
The things I would love to do with them now that I can.
The things I would make time to do with them now, if I had known what was coming down the road for each of them.

To snap myself out of it I think of the things I have become steward of and the joy in my life:
I am healthy
I am still above ground (don't take that for granted)
I am employed, nicely
I own homes and land
I can strech a dollar, though I don't have to
I have great spouse
Our marriage has survived a very drawn out remodel and the most frustrating contractors on earth!
I have 3 great adult kids, Whom I love and they love me
I have 2 beautiful intelligent baby granddaughters
I am pretty intelligent
I have a small group of great friends who I can all on at any time, to help have fun, get real, or cry my head off
I still believe that all people are good at their essence and all things are possible
I still and always will, believe in an almighty GOD and his SON, who loves, protects, guides and gives me strength even when it is so dark and sad.
Of course, I am thankful for the efforts my ancestors made before my time and my parnets times, and their continued efforts securing their lands and property for the betterment of their heirs. for many this is a given, but for our family there were societal and other obstacles to retaining property, so the fact that it made it to my generation is a testament to their diligence.
I am also thankful for the opportunity to live during a time when many firsts have occurred, the most recent being the election of the member of a minority ethnic group as the president.

I hope you can find many if not more things to be thankful for during the following weeks, months and years, as our wait may be faster or longer than we expect.
In the low times, remember all of the things you have been given and blessed with.
It puts things and situation in perspective.

Thank you all for being my coffee in the morning, my tea at the evening, the facts, myths, conjecture, laughs and downright nonsense I get here are as they say 'priceless'.

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Tags: Thanksgiving, emotion, reflection, thanks

Views: 63

Replies to This Discussion

The tendency to take what we have for granted is challenging to overcome...thank you for the reminder. I will remember that next time I see my wife and daughter interacting and the next time my daughter grabs my finger and wants to drag me to see something she has created.
Well, I get to see my little liberal sisters whom I love and miss very much. Do we talk politics at the table? No, but when you leave the table it's on like a chicken bone.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody.
Sounds like my Thanksgiving. Polite while we eat and then watch out.

I love Thanksgiving, the whole family usually makes it in town, we eat to much and watch football. God Bless America.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends.
I know most all of us have more to give thanks for than most people in the world.
I can relate to the loss of a loved one, my dad January 2006, which seems to dampen my spirit at holidays. However, when I think about how he loved the holiday season...I get joy from precious memories of him. I am very thankful for my husband of 38 yrs., four adult children, ten grandchildren, and expecting one the day before Thanksgiving, and another in Feb. '09. My Mother still alive at 88, my siblings, and in-laws. Thankful to GOD that thru hard times, and good times HE has always been faithful to be with us and bring us through. Thankful for friends who are even closer than my family. Thankful that our health has been sustained by the grace of GOD. Blessings to all of you this Thanksgiving!
Rosebud,

I am thankful for your message of Thanksgiving. After reading your message I walked away from the computer to go and check on my father. I am so thankful for my father’s life and I am thankful for your experience about family gathering. My father was an orphan when he was only 5-years-old, he never knew his father and Keitchie, Louisiana was a lonely place for him. My father is the only child and although he was a top police sergeant in Houston, Texas father’s worst fears was being alone.

I am so happy to become the caregiver to my father because my mother (his wife of 52 ½ years) died suddenly leaving my father once again alone. He is no longer alone and although I was not planning on celebrating Thanksgiving with a big dinner and company (everyday is Thanksgiving to me) I will have a nice dinner for family sake.

Rozzy

While I have had to deal with the loss of a loved one, it wasnt a parent. Both of my parents, while getting up there in age, are still with us and doing well. The loss we incurred was my oldest sister Cindy.She was diagnosed with NF when she was 13 years old. She spent the rest of her life knowing she had an incurrable disease that would eventually kill her. The last 18 months she spent totally bed ridden and 100% dependent upon us as family members to do for her the many things she could no longer do. Feed her ,wash her,dress her, everything.

At no point , that I am aware of, did she ever outwardly complain about her lot. The only person that I know of that had more of a reason to complain was JOB. Yet she said nothing except how blessed we are.The only time she ever even got real fussy was when her Dallas Cowboys werent playing well. The last real conversation we had was in a letter that she got my other sister to pen for her because of the paralysis. She told me to "always put God first in your life no matter what and everything else would work itself out". This comeing from a woman who had spent the last 20 years of her life , going from brain surgery to brain surgery just to stay alive long enough to watch her 2 kids grow up a little more.

Our Cindy has been gone for a little more then 20 years now, yet the life she lived still screams at me every time I feel like having a pitty party and things arent going my way.She understood the importance of family.But more importantly she understood the importance of our personal walk with God.

She left those 2 kids of hers too young for them to truely understand the pain she went through and sacrifices that she made to be with them a little longer. But I know ! And may God almighty never let me forget the true meaning of love and sacrifice that was shown through the life of "My Big Sister". Thank you Cindy and Happy Thanksgiving to all. May we always find reasons to be thankful!
Thank you for reminding me how blessed I am and to stop complaining over trivia things. I have three sisters and although we do not speak regularly, perhaps it is time that I break the ice and open the line of communication. I cannot imagine saying goodbye to one of my sisters. Thank you Cindy for the lessons learned from your baby sister, because she has shared her knowledge with others who could surely use the lesson (like me)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful to God for my family, friends and this website. I am thankful that God has continued to keep my father healthy after losing my mother in 2007 my father suffered a massive stroke and was sent home to die twice; today my father is smiling, eating everything and although he cannot walk because of the stroke and Alzheimer’s my father is still sharing the world with his baby girl (me).

I am thankful for my beautiful, smart baby girl. After losing my mother and working diligently with my father; my daughter has always manage to make me laugh or smile. Her very presence in my life is a miracle, because I had her so late in my life.

This group has given me answers about what is going on in Louisiana more than my aunts who live in Louisiana. The members are full of information and so happy to offer advice. The source of information is reliable and most of the members I had a chance to communicate with are decent individuals no matter what his or her party affiliation; I appreciate the respectful dialog from this group as a whole. When I need information; I can rely on this group to provide the information necessary so I can make future decisions.

I love Louisiana and the people that live there. I remember spending every summer in Shreveport, Louisiana when I was growing up. I am so thankful to meet and communicate with people from the partial/home town where I grew up.

I have met friends on this board that will last a life time and I am so blessed for that.

Thank you for your hospitality, thank you for hearing my rants and most importantly; thank you for being yourself…

Rozzy

Happy Thanksgiving!

rozzy,

I love your Thanksgiving artwork.
Thank you Sir... Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.


I lost my dad Jan 1, 1994, one of my brothers on Thanksgiving Day 6 years ago and my mother passed away December 7, 2007. She suffered a long battle with alzheimer's and this will be my first holiday season without her even tho at times she did not know who I was for the last couple of years. I really don't know what this holiday season will be like for me. My family and I are kind of avoiding the subject. However, I am thankful for the memories I have.

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