Whispering Feather: Thanksgiving...

HAPPY THANKS~GIVING!

At our home, Thanksgiving has always been a time to be thankful...for food, family, friends, the true fruits of our lives...well, this has me thinking about a lot of things. I had paragraphs of things to say, thanks to this one and to that one, for this and that...This year, I am going to share my thanks.

My parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and on, are the ones who in combination, have passed on the genes that I wear. The more immediate being my parents...growing up our house was always full. Every holiday our table was filled with family, friends, extended family...all taking part in the merry making memories. Sometimes we had so many people that we needed every room in the house and on the porch to fit us all. The kids were usually mixed in with the adults as the parents didn't believe in a "kids" table. Laughter was the loudest talk amongst the adults and kids...usually there was an adult, my dad or one of his brothers who would be chasing the kids around, playing tag, playing frisbee, hide and seek, cards or any other game of choice...

I grew up with my dad always saying, "The good Lord shall provide!" and by goodness, we always had enough. Dad walked on early in his life at 51, I was two months from 16. Life changed drastically. However, the holiday's did not...every one was met with many familiar faces and always a new one or two...some became return eaters and some moved on to their own homes with their own families and new traditions. I am truly, deeply full of thanks for my father and the lessons I learned from him and his family.

One of the Thanksgiving's after dad walked on...was at the Trailer home my mom rented from Dwayne and Doris Linden...it was a lean year and a small basket from the church with a turkey and the fixins for the meal...so we had one pumpkin pie to be divided between mom, my brother Tom, his wife Janette, their three boys, Gerry, Jeff and Tommy, Kevin and myself. My mother was sitting in front of the kitchen window, to her left was, Janette, Tom, myself, Kevin, Gerry, Jeff and Tommy being the closest to grandma Gerry (my mom). We had just finished with a spectacular meal put on by my mom. Tom passes the Reddi wip to me, I used it and pass it to Kevin. Tom says, 'Kevin, I will give you my piece of pie if you can hit ma with that."
Kevin shakes it, sprays my mom and hits her face and the window behind her.

Silence. The boys start to giggle, their parents scold them to be quiet, mom reaches up to wipe her glasses in that classic way that only comedy on TV can do. Immediately I start to laugh, Kevin reaches over and grabs Tom's piece of pie, mom starts to laugh, the boys fall on the floor laughing and the day goes down as one of the most memorable gatherings ever! We laughed about that every time the story was told...we still laugh, even tho mom has joined my dad on the other side...I can still see her face and hear her laughter...

I chose the picture at the top of the page in honor of my mother, father, family and laughter...it is because of the way I was raised, and a little help from my mother herself from the other side, that brought even more family together. It was her desire to locate and have a relationship with her grandchildren and for them to meet their siblings that they didn't know and for cousins to meet and to form long lasting relationships. She asked me if we couldn't find them before she walked on, if I would be sure to continue the search after and to be sure they met. The year she walked on, within six months, I found all of them. Every time some searching mechanism worked out, I could hear her giggle next to me. A year after we buried her, we all gathered at our home and great relationships were made. Our family truly grew and the laughter multiplied by a hundred! That picture of the dreamcatcher tattoo is to represent her dream, the bear is to represent family and the feathers are for our prayers of love and thanks to always go to the Creator of all that is...As mom said, I continued to search for my sisters. Within a year after the gathering, through a string of interesting events, Teresa, my sister Bonnie's daughter found me. Through this meeting, I was able to connect with Bonnie and once Teresa supplied the last name for my sister Paula, and a location, I was on facebook again and found Paula...my family grew again and the laughter is now even ten fold...

For me, I am so very, very thank~full and grateful for my family, friends, extended family and our fur kids, Cedar and Zuni...and those that have walked on to the Rainbow Bridge to wait for us there. Our time here is so very short. I sit here writing this and think...wow! I am 50! Where has the time gone? Makes me even more grateful for those family lessons early in life...

Live, Love, Laugh and most of all, enJOY every second you can spend with your family. May you all be blessed with peace, love, and joy...eat lots of feast food, share your good fortune because the Good Lord shall provide enough for you and to share.

Kevin ate Tom's piece of pie the whole time he was saying, "I didn't mean it..." LOL "I did" was Kevin's reply...

A few family pics to share...some I know/knew and some I never met...