Through the open window–yes, open window, the thermostat in the hallway reads 77–I hear sparse bird’s song and the rippling sound of the ponds in the small garden below. Thanksgiving Day in the deep south.

I saw these from our side sitting porch. I think our drought brought the color, so I'm grateful for lack of rain.

I got up as every other day, 6-ish, and moved to my cozy chair in my office for quiet time to read and reflect. I had about ten minutes of such time, when I heard my son’s diesel truck come up our drive, and the small voice of my little Sweetie Pie cry out. “Punk (the cat) bit-ted me!” And then he found the door locked. (Unthinkable that Nana and Papa might actually sleep in.) I heard all of this through the open window, put my bare feet on the floor and went down to scoop up a little boy, with both crocodile tears and a smile at once.

“Somebody left something on the road,” he told me. It is Memaw’s newspaper, I explained. We went to get it, he on his little bicycle and I walking and seeing that the colorful leaves I’d been watching for nearly two weeks were almost gone. I’m wearing my thin summer robe.

When we return to the house, I told him to take the newspaper to my mother’s chair in her living room. His voice receded through the house, as I set about making my tea. Then I heard: “Memaw! Memaw…I have your paper!” Oh! I chased after him, but too late–he’s at my mother’s bed, about to plop the newspaper on her head. She saved herself by coming up from beneath the covers.

I finally have my tea and am at one of my favorite places–my computer, writing. Thanksgiving Day, which for me signals the opening bang of the holiday season, has begun. I have so many things for which to be thankful–

We now live near family, as was my dream. I hear them below as I write this: Papa playing train with Sweetie-Pie, then saying good morning to my mother: “I hear you got awakened this mornin’.” Papa takes care of everyone and even takes the turkey off the bone, a job I really, really hate. I’m a lucky girl, and often I tell Papa how thankful I am that I never got a divorce all those times I thought I wanted one. Sometimes one gives thanks for things one did not do and did not get.

My gratitude overflows today, and mainly I’m grateful to know the power of gratitude in all things. When trouble strikes, and it will, give thanks for the trouble, because it is what makes us, and then give thanks for every good thing, because there is always good. Always.

Lastly, I am glad for the opportunity to say thank you to you, my online friends. My online connections enrich my life beyond anything I could have imagined. Thank you!

“May the Lord bless you real good.”~Billy Graham