Thanksgiving Day 2021...

There is just something about being at home on Thanksgiving that just feels right. Wednesday, I sipped my fair share of hot tea, visiting with mom as she meal prepped and baked for Thursday. I don't get many days where I have her in person, all to myself, so this was a treat!

Thanksgiving was pretty perfect in my book! I love us all being in the kitchen crowded together, each helping with the meal. Some of us tended to the meat, some set the table, others took on side dishes while we visited, laughed and kept children entertained. In the end, it's not really about the food for me, but about the togetherness that happens in the preparing and eating.

This year, I was most thankful for the presence of each one of these people. Loss is a word my family is all too familiar with and as the years go by, each one lost is always missed a little extra when we all get together.  I thought of my brother often that day. I thought of his empty seat on the couch, I thought of how much he would have loved having us all home and I thought about how much he would have loved visiting with the boys. He would have insisted on cooking and cutting the meat in his own particular way. He would have had an opinion on everything we made and the piano playing would have definitely sent him over the edge! 

Though we missed and remembered loved ones gone, I am thankful for memories I have. Memories of Grannie & Pa, Randy, Papaw and now of Brian. Even though physically they were missed, in little ways, they were all right there with us! Grannie would have been in her blue chair drinking sweet tea, taking it all in, stealing all the hugs she could get. Pa would have been a busy bee, taking out trash, eating his turkey with a side of chili petines. Randy would have filled the house with that laugh I'd know anywhere. Papaw would have sat right by Mamaw, wanting updates on everyone's latest. And Brian, I could tell you at any given time what he would have been doing. I could tell you verbatim his commentary and there were many times, I could almost hear him from the back room, hollering, laughing and poking fun... and Hunter would have been right beside him.

This year was different. This year was hard in some ways, but it was also so so good. We created new memories to add our collection, we played games, we laughed, oh, how we laughed. We stayed up late watching scary movies, we piled in beds all snuggled together, and we carried on traditions that started from some of my earliest memories!

From Grannie's dressing, to Mamaw's hand stitched table cloth, all the way to holding hands to pray, this Thanksgiving, I was reminded of the blessing of those I hold most dear, those both here and those who have earned their wings.