Thanksgiving Anew

By Francie Thayer

 

For all the years that our kids lived under the roof with us, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday of the year: all the gathering of family—there were so many cousins within driving distance—and so much beauty—there was a “family farm” that could (creatively) hold us all—and none of the commercialism—“Christmas is coming!”  

Even after the last one graduated from college, they would come back in November. All three are teachers, and they would roll into our home during the days before Thanksgiving and sleep—they had finished the teacher-sprint from the First Day of School to Thanksgiving Break.  Having poured themselves out for the students they had come to love, they were always exhausted, while also satisfied that their work mattered. And the stories of their students that they would share with each other… so much laughter, such passionate conversation about educational philosophy, what a good administrator looks like, how diversity, equity and inclusion needs to be championed and brought to the center of their learning communities.  

How I loved those days in November… 35 years of them… 

This week finds no one rolling in exhausted. Oh they are likely all still exhausted, but San Francisco, Seattle and Portland are all too far in the Time of Covid. They were not too far last year, but this is no ordinary year. 

There is so much letting go invited… the preparing of spaces, the preparing of meals, the laughter, the hugs, the board games, the cozy-on-the-sofa-by-the-woodstove.  The blasting of Christmas music on Friday morning after Thanksgiving (never before,) the pie-for-breakfast (SO many food groups represented,) the long walks through windy fields and forests to the water, the rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to choose the first Christmas movie to be watched. Not this year… at least not with those loved ones under this roof. 

We thought about how we could do some of these things together by Zoom.  But it becomes cumbersome, and a 3-hour time difference really throws a wrench in that.  Just because I’m the mom does not mean I am the only one grieving these missed traditions.  There have already been tears on the phone with several of them.  

If ever there was a time for “So, what if…” it is now. 

So, what if…. We Zoom to make pies together in the morning, then Zoom to eat pies together in the evening? What if we go for walks together while on a conference call? What if we watch that movie together on the phone? 

But I am drawn to a broader “what if.”  What if we not focus on what we always used to do, but focus instead on what is in this moment? What if we wait and listen and see what the seeming-void offers?  Because it’s only empty space as long as we hold onto what has been before.  If we can turn from that, it becomes a wide-open meadow, a fresh canvas, an expansive creative Now.  Yes, we miss each other, but we miss each other each and every week.  Let’s focus on possibilities and see what comes, then gleefully share them with each other on the family Zoom.

The invitation this morning seems to be to let go and turn, in contrast with letting go and continuing to focus on the things released as they float away into a distant haze.  Rather, lovingly let go, turn, and see what is out ahead, what is invited for this day, what is Present in this moment.  God loves us too much to leave us stranded. So let us lean into Now and know that we have been richly blessed during this week of the year for 35 years.  The blessings will be in different shapes, experiences and flavors, but blessings still abound.  God is here, God is active, God is loving.  Our God is a God of Abundance who has blessings for us as God always does.