Do you and your family go around the table each Thanksgiving and say what you’re thankful for from the year before?
Is it a Canadian thing?
No – it can’t be. I have no doubt many of you all over the world carry on with this same tradition.
When our family followed our custom this year, the comments began as usual. One glowing friend brought up how happy her and husband were for their new baby grandson. A totally acceptable reason for thanks.
Another couple mentioned the rented house they’d moved into and how much roomier it was from their old apartment. Good!
Of course, my neighbor and her husband thanked the heavens for him coming through his recent by-pass and for his returning health. This was one we all agreed with.
But then the teenagers around the table got really serious and reminded us all of how sad it was out there in the rest of the world.
They listed other reasons why we’re lucky. It started off about the California forest fires and how gloomy it was for those poor people who found themselves homeless and in some cases, without the funds, enough years or the energy to be able to start fresh. For us older folks at the table of twelve, it hit home how blessed we were not to be in a similar situation.
Then another of the youngsters brought up the immigrants who had walked so many hundreds of miles with only their children and their prayers to be able to reach a safe haven. That made us all stop and think. Not only had those poor souls lost their homes, but because of civil unrest, cruelty and terror, they’d fled their country – leaving behind their customs and identities.
What a sobering moment! Having our young people remind us of those situations. As I looked around the table, I saw their parents pride for their offspring’s empathy. I know I felt overwhelmed with pleasure that our kids paid attention at all.
Therefore, I guess what I’m most thankful for are our truly intelligent youngsters – their big hearts…
And their huge potential.
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Blessings for you, your family and your friends. Enjoy a wonderful day.
Happy Thanksgiving from the ladies of the Authors’ Billboard.
Hugs, Mimi
NYT & USA Today, best-selling, award-winning author, MIMI BARBOUR, has seven romance series to her credit. She also has many single titles and a huge number of box sets – her own and multi-author collections.
Mimi lives on the East coast of Vancouver Island with her husband and writes her various romances with tongue in cheek and a mad glint in her eye. She’s been known to say: “If I can steal a booklover’s attention away from their everyday grind, absorb them into a fantasy love story, and make them care about the ending, then I’ve done my job.”
**Visit her blogs at http://mimibarbour.com / http://Authorsbillboard.com
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Her reviews are numerous and incredibly positive:
“Love Mimi Barbour, love her books. When you can read a book that within just a few words, you are brought right into the book. You feel, taste, see everything going on. Great story lines. Fantastic characters, fantastic plots, story lines like real life both honest folk and of crooks. Humor that will have you giggling then full on belly laugh. You may even shed a tear or two. All in all, Mimi never disappoints.” ~ Reviewed by Shirleen Miller