Di and I have just celebrated our first Thanksgiving.  Before moving to Houston, we had never lived in a country where the Thanksgiving tradition was observed.  It has been a wonderfully positive experience, made all the better by the visit from Australia of our daughter Liesl, her husband Brendan and their baby – our little grandson – Noah.

Before they came to visit, friends in Australia had warned Liesl and Brendan that there was not much to see or do in Houston (apart from visiting their parents of course).  So they were probably pleasantly surprised that during their stay, they managed to visit the NASA Space Center (where we shared lunch with our astronaut friend, Nicholas Patrick), the zoo, the aquarium, a live music concert (featuring Jeremy Camp, Adam Cappa and Francesca Battistelli), the Texan state capital city of Austin and the historic seaside island town of Galveston, as well as joining us for some great meals and, of course, the cultural experience of the Black Friday shopping specials.

Perhaps the highlight of their visit (and I repeat – apart from visiting Di and me) was to participate in a local family’s Thanksgiving Dinner (see the photo at the top of this blog).  We were thrilled and honored to be invited by Awty parents, Jennifer and Chris Hohman, to join them, their family and their neighbors for Thanksgiving dinner.  As well as enjoying their delightful and stimulating company , it was humbling both to experience and to join in with everyone as we shared our personal stories of those things for which we were thankful.  I was deeply impressed that a great nation such as America would stop for a day simply to share time with friends and family, to reflect, to be thankful and to express gratitude.

I was reminded of a comment I had read on a website earlier this year.  The author, a high-profile Jewish rabbi named David Wolpe, was reflecting on the question asked by many people: “Why me?”.  Most people ask that question when they are confronted by hardship, loss or trauma – thus, “why me?”  The author observed that for most of us in economically more developed countries, we should be asking “Why me?” every day as a response to the bounty and good fortune we enjoy, which we take for granted most of the time.  Thanksgiving seemed to me to be an excellent institutionalized antidote to taking the important things our lives for granted.

I was interested to read a Facebook posting by the same author on Thanksgiving Day this year.  Although the heading for his post was “A Jewish Thanksgiving Blessing”, I felt that the sentiments underpinning his words should have an appeal to people of all religious (and non-religious) persuasions:

1. I am not thankful for cruelty.
   

2. Not thankful for the small pettiness embroidered in our characters.
   

3. I am not grateful, Dear God, for the hunger and hurt that plague us.
   

4. I cannot thank you for the ways, large and small, that we scar our neighbor’s hearts,
   

5. Coax tears from angry eyes
   

6. Wound those whom we love,
   

7. Shame and hurt one another.
   

8. But my God, my rock, I am so grateful that you taught us to see;
   

9. So we can heal the hurt, soothe the pain,
   

10. Raise those who are bowed down.
    

11. We are thankful for blessings, oh Lord, but also for the gift of giving blessing.
    

I was also impressed by another Thanksgiving Day Facebook posting, this one by a person (Jonathan Safran Foer) who I do not know and had never heard of except by his words that were re-posted by a friend of mine (perhaps helping to confirm this week’s report that Facebook had reduced the famous Six Degrees of Separation to just 4.7):

1. “I’m grateful for anything that reminds me of what’s possible in this life. Books can do that.  Films can do that.  Music can do that.  School can do that.  It’s so easy to allow one day to simply follow into the next, but every once in a while we encounter something that shows us that anything is possible, that dramatic change is possible, that something new can be made, that laughter can be shared.”
   

And I would add in the aftermath of Liesl’s Brendan’s and Noah’s visit – our own children can be a particularly powerful validation that hope, love and potential are without limits too!

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For those of my readers with an access password to my galleries of family images, I have posted a page with 81 images of Liesl’s Brendan’s and Noah’s visit HERE.  For others, I have posted a few images below to share some aspects of my very happy week with you.