Today is perhaps my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving is all about the food and the football, but more importantly it is a kick-back day of realizing what we truly are thankful for. The story we learned in elementary school was that Thanksgiving was a celebration of the first harvest of the colonists in Plymouth with the help of the Native Americans. The colonists struggled until the Native Americans gave them seeds and taught them how to fish.
How many times have we taken for granted the fact that we can just run down to the store to get what we need for our meals? Thankfully, our world is realizing the importance of getting back to our roots, so to speak, and buying food from local farmers or farmers markets. My husband Mark is a big hunter and fisherman so we do eat venison meat and fish that he provides from his hunting expeditions, but what if he didn't have those skills? Would we go hungry? No, because we can go to the local Harris Teeter and get what we need. But the colonists weren't so lucky. Thankfully, they were able to figure things out with some help so that their entire population did not get wiped out.
How many times do we really think about the original Thanksgiving? I guess my point is that it's probably a good idea to revisit that lesson we learned in elementary school. But in a modern day world filled with computers, flat screen televisions, Kindles and Ipods and...electricity, it's hard to comprehend that if you didn't hunt you didn't eat. So as you are eating your feast today, appreciate the small things, like you didn't have to actually venture out in the cold woods to find a turkey first. Perhaps you did venture out in the cold ,but only to get into your warm automobile and drive yourself to the local market.
Beyond the bare bones meaning of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a more personal reason I'm thankful. In 2001 my husband Mark was supposed to go to New York City for a meeting on Windows on the World, the restaurant on top of the World Trade Center. At the time he was working for Metlife and they had scheduled a managers meeting on Sept. 11, 2001; now currently known as 9/11. That day our world changed forever as we were bombed by al-Qaeda terrorists and our," twin towers," were destroyed forever. We all know the story, but mine was significant because my husband did not end up going to the meeting, as Metlife, thankfully, changed the meeting to another day. My life could have been greatly altered, but I was spared.
I remember exactly where I was when the attacks took place that morning. We were living in Apex, NC. After I had dropped my son Bryce off at pre-school, and had put my son Nick into his jog stroller,
I had gone out for my morning run, donning my Sony headset. I did not own an Ipod yet. I was listening to G105, a Raleigh radio station, when the story broke. At the point of the breaking story I was climbing a nasty hill and I remember thinking that hill was nothing compared to what just happened. The newscaster thought the attack was an accident and by the time I ran home and turned on the local news, the real story was playing out before my eyes. I immediately called my husband Mark at work to tell him the news. I silently prayed to God and thanked him for not sending my husband to New York for the meeting.
I often think of all the wives that lost their husbands in the 9-11 attacks; all the kids that lost their dads and moms, all the unnecessary violence, and I thank God everyday that I was spared. It sounds almost selfish, but I feel there was a reason I was spared that day. I am thankful that I still have my husband and that my kids have their dad. In times of marriage when I am feeling frustrated; and if you are married (let's be honest) you definitely have times that are challenging, I remind myself how lucky I am. The one thing I am truly thankful for is that I have the person I am meant to be with standing by my side and cheering me all the way to the finish line of life.
Tri-On,
Kelly
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