Thanksgiving

I have always loved Thanksgiving Day… I have always loved the LOVE that the day brings out in people… it is the only day that all Americans celebrate regardless of their religion... it is the only day that everyone is thanking God or the Universe or some other higher being... all day people are giving thanks...... people take time to reflect and think about how fortunate they are … and then, they rush out and help the less fortunate… it is the one day of the year that actually has an excessive amount of volunteers at homeless shelters… which is great I suppose, except that why aren’t these people who are giving of themselves on Thanksgiving Day (as if it is a grandiose gesture of love), volunteering the other 364 days of the year? I mean, the homeless shelters are open year round…

This is not my own thought…. This enlightenment came from a nun at the “Sisters of Charity” in Midtown Miami one Thanksgiving morning that I went to sing at the morning mass… my parish actually takes care of them year round… our church has its own vegetable garden and we have hens who provide 130 eggs daily for them… on Thursday nights, we make sandwiches and someone from the church delivers them on Friday mornings…. Regardless, there were so many people that Thanksgiving morning that we could hardly move inside the little building… a lot of people had to stand and eat outside… and the nun was up against the wall shaking her head… I asked, “What’s the matter Sister?” …. “I am thankful that the parishioners from your church come out every year, but it would be nice if they came in small groups every day... we feed all of these people all of the time…maybe you can spread the word” …. There was nothing I could respond except, “yes, of course I can say something...” I felt so small and insignificant… I didn’t go to help serve food, I was simply asked to sing at the mass…and now I just wanted to leave...  I went back a few times on random days, but I hardly make it to that area anymore … my own guilt is eating up at me right now for not practicing what I preach so go ahead, call me a hypocrite today….

I am not sure what I am going to do for Thanksgiving… probably nothing… my father is dead… my mother left town... my brother left town... my youngest brother and baby sister live out of town…  and the sister I love deeply… well, if I spend it with her, I think we will be miserable together... we were definitely Daddy’s girls … last night she was at the house and we were already crying again just talking about the fact that he won’t be giving grace… but, I told her that if I don’t high-tail it out of town, I will stop in for dessert…

Fortunately, my boys understand my lunacy… they’re like “Road-trip, Mama!!!” so, maybe that’s what we will do… they are my family… I haven’t shared Thanksgiving with my oldest one for 4 years and my middle one for 2 years… it might be nice, just us… course, it might not be nice…. And as I write this, I just received a call from my 18 year old… he’s got big plans for the weekend… so, we’ll see what happens.. but whatever happens is fine with me.. it’s about how we can be happiest…and I am thankful that despite the sadness we feel without my Daddy, we are relatively happy people... 

My heartfelt wish to all of you is that you are not only thankful on Thanksgiving Day, but always… I know I am… May you and your family be blessed with all things good… You are loved beyond measure…go out and love the world’s people as often as you can… be thankful for one another.. we're all we've got... 

Namaste,

Elena

p.s. if you have little ones and/or you consider yourself a little one… check out http://littlelaneyelf.blogspot.com/ … Sunday, December 1st, is the “Day of the Elf” and there will be a lot of magical things happening as we count down to Christmas…