This week as we prepare to observe the Thanksgiving holiday, will our thoughts be mostly on the food we are preparing or will they be on the true meaning of Thanksgiving?  George Washington proclaimed that it would be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayers to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God." Traditionally it has been a celebration of the blessings of the year.

 

Take a minute to reflect on what you may have been thankful for last year.  Now think about what you are thankful for this year.  If you are like me, this list can change dramatically. 

 

I am still thankful for all those things I mentioned last year, but now I am most thankful that each morning I wake up and am able to enjoy a beautiful sun rise.  Each evening I am thankful that I have survived the day and am able to watch a sun set with the hope that I will have a restful night  and be able to open my eyes in the morning.  If this happens then every thing else in the middle is secondary. 

 

As I go to the hospital every morning for my treatments and I look around a packed waiting room, it only reinforces how lucky I am and how much I have to be thankful for.  I have adopted a positive attitude and I urge each of you to do the same. We can not accomplish anything by feeling sorry for ourselves.

 

I hope that each of you will gather around your family and friends this Thanksgiving Day and be thankful for all you have.

 

I hope you will have the traditional turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie and that you will share it  with those you love.

 

From my house to yours, please have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Thanks for all the cards and greetings I received this week, keep in touch and until next week "Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine."