Today, we are on the highway driving past the beautifully
changing fall leaves. We are off to find Thanksgiving. I’m feeling a little
sardine-like with how we fit in our vehicle now. A glance in the rearview shows
Molly’s ears flopping in the wind (yes, she is always tethered carefully with
shelter as an option, thank you for asking to all the many concerned people
over the years) and she is ecstatic that she was allowed to join us. Other
sundry odds and ends in the back include the girls bikes, a bag of apples from
the orchard up the road that will become a pie, and 4 pumpkins for pie and
hopefully a pumpkin spice latte…oh change that. 3 pumpkins were forgotten on
the porch, make that one in the back. Oh and a tree. Aneliese wanted to bring a
Thanksgiving tree upon which she intends to hang crab apples where we have
written our “thankfuls”. After telling me her plan yesterday, she headed out
with a butter knife to choose a tree; her daddy came to the rescue and now we
have our little tree.

 Needless to say we are all quite looking forward to
celebrating Thanksgiving with dear friends with an added bonus of being a short
walk from the ocean. Thanksgiving is a favorite celebration of mine. Okay so
maybe any time that I can share food and friendship with family, new or old
friends is a delight. Still, I do like gathering  together in thankfulness for the gifts given.
This year, I’m struck with the thought that gifts are not always easy nor as I
would choose, but that they hold what I need.

So today I am thankful for:

• New red shoes (I’ve been needing a good pair for while and
  red is just the icing)

• A community of friends

• 3 blue-eyed sprites who scatter joy

• A certain handsome artist

• Hope within doubt

• Healing

• Promises

What are you thankful
for? Are there hard things this year that you are searching for thankfulness
within?