Once again, we have come upon the great and glorious “Holiday Season”, officially beginning this Thursday with Thanksgiving and proceeding all the way through New Year’s. I feel wiped already! (Just kidding) Contrary to the fact that many a store has already had Christmas decorations out for over a month already, and that some of you may already be done with Christmas shopping, the weeks ahead will be bustling with activity and not a little anxiety. Dinners to prepare, parties to attend, encounters with people we have not seen nor spoken to in some time are just a few of the elements to which we can all look forward. I always find Thanksgiving a fitting start to the season, though. If we take the opportunity in front of us, and offer a moment of pause, to reflect and be grateful for what we already have, I believe it will help us to keep a better perspective on everything else. Nothing really is ever fully the way we would like to have it. But even in our want and the imperfection of our lives, good things can always be found. Some may take a little bit of time to see and acknowledge, but they are definitely there. One might begin with our individual families. While there is much in each one that is a result of some choice or decision of ours - if and whom we marry, for example, or if and when we may have children, perhaps even how many - there is much more that is surely out of our control. Every person has their own personality, desires and needs. How they intermix is something that lifetimes of analysis may never be able to explain or smooth out. Hopefully there is much laughter and care, love and concern among family members, but none of us would be truthful if we did not also acknowledge those things that are part of every family which need attention and nurturance. To deny such things is to miss the chance to grow deeper with each other, and offer healing that can only take place when such things are faced. There are great pleasures we are to experience in our lifetime, and much pain as well. One does not deny the reality of the other. Just because there is pain and difficulty does not mean that there can not be great joys as well, and vice versa. Many among us will dread the coming weeks because they are times to remember who is not there, what we do not have, and what can never be for us again. But if the focus remains only on the pain and effort that is indeed a part of the holidays, then we miss the whole point of them. We are today, and have what we have, because of all that has been in the past. We are richer and stronger because of every person and event of our lives, and without them all, I am certain life may not be so full. So on Thanksgiving, I hope to remember the pleasures and pains that have blessed my life to this day, and start the season off right - with gratitude in my heart, and a prayer upon my lips.

© 2007 Peter J. Andrews