There's so much to be thankful for...

 it's been a wild ride to Thanksgiving from August

Covid 19 continues to run wild, so my plan to have Thanksgiving with an almost traditional dinner (chicken not turkey but otherwise really close) here at my house with my sister and her family here too was put to the way side a couple of weeks ago -- not without some unhappy muttering on both sides

It would have been nice to have our family, small though it is all together, but we're not risking that

 So there will be four of us for dinner tomorrow -- my daughter, her husband, their son and me, and that being the case it will be a very "non-traditional" dinner -- there's a large shrimp ring in the refrigerator along with pickles, peppers and olives for a relish tray as well as a sweet potato praline topped cassarole and a pumpkin pie to go with the gumbo that they are bringing, and there will be fresh, warm corn muffins -- and the traditional sparkling cider to accompany the whole "feast"

 As I was cooking today  I was thinking about the many "non-traditional" Thanksgivings when my daughter was younger.  Any family that moves seven times in four years has a good shot at hitting a Thanksgiving holiday as a move day.  That occasioned a meal in a small, mostly empty neighborhood diner where we were all so tired we didn't care what we ate.

And there was the year we were driving from Utah to California in a rental truck and I managed to lock the key inside -- and in that little town the kid working for the only AAA towing company in the area had no idea how to use a slim jim to get into the truck so we could get the key out and be on our way -- but we finally did.  That was the Thanksgiving of hamburgers from whatever fast food place was open on the highway.

Along the way on our adventure of life I learned a lesson that I think my daughter knows too.

It ends up that where the table is, or what's on it is not nearly as important as who is around that table.  Because it is the who that I am the most grateful for.

And especially this year, even though it has been a rough year, and there are fewer of us around that table than there were last year, I know that things could be so much worse.  And I am indeed grateful for the friends I have, and my own continued ability to do for myself and for others.

Been playing a song that Josh Groban sings this week -- it's called "Thankful"

Part of the lyrics are:

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each others light
So for tonight, we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day, we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us, to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more
There's so much to be thankful for

I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving