My wife, my two daughters, and I went to my in-laws for our Thanksgiving meal today. We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and when we didn't feel like we could eat anymore, we had another plate. The food and the company was great. I think everybody had a good time.
We started off our morning by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. That's one of our holiday traditions. We watch that while we get anything ready we need to take to my in-laws. The girls really enjoy it. My youngest went crazy when she saw Santa Clause at the end of the parade. It was really cute.
I called my mom and dad after eating lunch and they seem to be getting along pretty well. They gave up on the parade before the end though. Oh, well, I guess we all can't endure some of the cruddy singing they throw in there with the good stuff.
I have been giving this posting a lot of thought. I didn't want to just make some kind of blanket statement saying that I'm thankful for everything or all my blessings or however you would like to put it. I wanted to write about one thing that I'm thankful for and expand on that. Am I thankful for more than just one thing? You bet I am. But that's not what this is about.
Through thick and through thin we always have family. They anger us, inspire closeness, correct us, encourage us, fight with us, have fun with us, and yet, through all of this, we love them and they love us. We don't always feel that we love them. That would be a fairy tale life. I'm often inspired to feelings for my wife, daughters, mom, dad, mother-in-law, and father-in-law, that aren't always love, but at the same time down inside it's still there, they are still family, and there's no changing that. We've got each other to support, and each other to support us. There will be times I will be in the roll of supporter and there will be times that I will be in the roll of the supported. It's just the way it works. I really believe that this was part of God's planning when he designed the institution of the family. We aren't all good at handling all of the situations all of the time.
I love my family. I'm not always exuding love from every pore of my being but that doesn't mean that I love them less. Not only do I hope that I've been able to teach them a few things over the years but I also want to let them know right here and now that from my daughters, to my dad, to my father-in-law, to my wife, I've learned from them. I plan to continue learning. Only a fool doesn't learn something new everyday and believe you me when you're a man helping raise two step-daughters you can't be a fool about it.
I'm very thankful for my family. Each individual with their own character, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs is just a part of the bricks that are used to build a great structure. There are so many ways that this structure could be obliterated but I hope in the end we find that the mortar of our love was strong enough to hold all of us together and that as we all bare the burden of this world together we help keep the walls from cracking under stress.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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