There’s much to be thankful for this year

It is almost Thanksgiving and we have a lot to be thankful for. Most of us have a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. Although we complain about high prices, we can afford groceries. In a world where we are used to finding well-stocked shelves, we find bare shelves that force us to try different brands of our favorite products, and we are reminded why we don’t like generics.

We have people who love us and the opportunity to talk to them often. We may live far apart but phones and social media allow us to see the huge feral hog that they shot with a bow and arrow, and the latest pictures of the grandkids.

I am also thankful for the neighbors’ cats. The cats wander over to get petted and to take a drink of water. The best thing they do is to keep the mouse population down. They don’t limit their choices to mice. They include other bite-sized animals in their diet. Best of all, I don’t have to clean up after them.

It is the season of holidays. We survived Halloween, and now it is time to either cook all day or take a trip somewhere to eat a huge meal. We may get to see family that we don’t see often. If we are lucky we get to catch up with whatever our relatives have been doing.

Many of the service organizations offer free Thanksgiving dinners. Every year I wonder what people are supposed to do for food the rest of the year. There are food giveaways locally that are scheduled weekly but from what I have seen, the products are intended to supplement what people normally buy and not to provide balanced meals.

When I was a lot younger, we received several boxes of food each Christmas. In addition to sugar, flour and canned food there were always cake mixes and other treats. Notice I didn’t mention anything about meat, bread, shampoo, soap, cleaning supplies or other items that we buy on a regular basis.

When I was first married to my first husband, I had the bright idea to host Thanksgiving for both sides of the family. The food was acceptable and everybody got along. I had made a lemon meringue pie for dessert. It tasted fine even though the crust ended up mostly on top.

I rarely bake pies any more.

For many years my current husband and I visited both families for the holiday.  What I wouldn’t give to relive those days again.

Then there was the time when we chose to move on Thanksgiving. Hubby had gotten a new job and we thought it would make sense to move much closer to his workplace. After we had done as much as we could, we realized that our new house didn’t come with food. The only thing open was a convenience store. We bought a loaf of bread, a container of mustard and a package of bologna. That was the simplest holiday meal we ever had.

These days we spend the holiday with just the two of us. We will get together with family eventually. I am thankful that we aren’t going to Oklahoma on a hunting trip with our daughter and her family.

There is much to be thankful for this year. We may not have a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving but one way or another we will give thanks for this life we have been given. 

And I can guarantee the menu won’t include lemon meringue pie with the crust on top.