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The Blessing of the Untraditional Thanksgiving
I have come to believe the 'untraditional' Thanksgiving holds the true expression of Thanksgiving. Some years back, I received a message through the spirit to stay home on Thanksgiving Day instead of joining family. Needless to say, my daughter was not appreciative, but I stayed home not having any clue why I was to stay home unless it was to meditate and contemplate thankfulness toward the God who blesses us.
This was back in the early Internet days when email was more of a novelty and early in the morning on The Day, I was connected with two women I'd never known or corresponded with previously. I no longer remember how we came to connect on that particular day, but both of these women were home alone. They were not home alone by choice: they were home alone because they were dying, unable to be up and around, and they wanted to give their family members a break from caregiving. Both women knew they'd not see another holiday season and their sense of sorrow was so great they could not conceal it from family so they had asked the family to go elsewhere and have a great day.
One woman was set up with a computer by her bedside so she could lie in bed and type a little between spells of resting. Typing between spells of resting is how the three of us spent the day and they poured out to me all the anquish they were trying to conceal from their loving families. They both talked at length about God and how they related to their Heavenly Father while dealing with a lingering death.
By the end of the day, I had come to realize this was the most meaningful Thanksgiving I'd ever had. The women had been able to say to each other and to me what they were really feeling without being concerned about hurting another person.
The woman lying in bed with the computer quit writing prior to Christmas; the other lost touch in the winter months.
This year I was given a choice between Thanksgiving with my grandbaby and taking a woman across the state to the State Hospital where her husband resides. This husband and wife have not shared a holiday for four years.
I expect this to be another good Thanksgiving. May yours be blessed as well!!
Jane Mullikin
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