At various stages in our life, Thanksgiving has a different place in our hearts.

When we’re young, the aromas we smell in the kitchen become part of our childhood – the turkey in the oven, sweet potatoes covered with marshmallows or enchiladas smothered in gravy.

On this one day, no one fusses at us when we snitch a bite of turkey off the platter or dip our rolls in the gravy.

As teens, we pretend to resent the time with family, believing other folks must be better behaved, their mealtimes are quieter and somewhat more civilized than our families.

But secretly, we’re happy for the familiarity of our crazy aunts and uncles, our grandfathers and fathers who pass on the tradition of carving the turkey and our grandmothers and aunts who make sure everything on our plate is smothered with gravy.

As young adults, we often miss Thanksgiving dinner with our families as we travel the world, head off to college or eat with a boyfriend or girlfriend’s family.

But while we’re sitting at a different table with unknown rituals, many of us secretly wish we were back home for at least one helping of Aunt Sarah’s cornbread dressing.

When we become parents, we’re the ones stuffing and baking the turkey. We usually cook the same favorites our mothers and grandmothers prepared, but we add our own touch to the dinner and thus create new memories for our children.

And before we carve the turkey and serve the green bean casserole, many of us will bow our heads and thank our creator for our many blessings and bounties.

As I think about all my blessings, the one that comes to mind this year is for the people who aid and help my family along life’s sometimes bumpy highway.

My nephew, Blair, gives patient advice about medications and willingly shares his pharmaceutical degree with my boys and their families whenever they’re unsure about meds for their family. Thank you.

To my sister-in-law, Annie, who answers our questions about our pets, day or night, and always has the best interests of the human and the pet in her answer, thank you.

My siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws have always always opened their homes, hearts and occasionally fishing boats to me and my family. Thank you. Your generosity has provided dozens of happy memories for my sons and me, and I thank you for those treasured memories and the ones yet to come.

I’m thankful for my mom. She makes everyone in her life feel special, and she’s always there for our family, day or night. Sometimes with a sandwich, sometimes with pears, but my mom treats every grandchild and person in our family as if they’re her favorite.

For the people who’ve stepped into my family’s path at crucial moments and helped them make wise choices, thank you. And even to those who were not so nice – you showed them how not to live.

Those thanks extend to the people who’ve helped me in my life. Their advice or being there when I needed a shoulder to cry on was crucial. Not a day goes by that I don’t thank the people who were encouraging voices in the darkness.

So this Thanksgiving, I’m giving thanks for people, the ones who help us figure out where we’re going, how we’re going to get there and, most importantly, how we’re going to stay there.

They are life’s bounty, the treasure we’re most thankful to have.
 
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.