Giving Thanks for Mom

I have very strong but scattered memories of Thanksgiving. I remember being at my grandmothers  when I was very small before my parents divorced.  I remember being about eight or nine and adding members of of a new family to our already scrunched table.  This meant a kids table and my sister eating on the stairs which came to be a go to holiday family joke.  I don’t have any strong feelings about the changes, I am sure I missed my father but I was surrounded by people and chatter and adults trying to make everything seem normal.  I was grateful for the warm smells of the my mothers cooking and baking that lasted for days.  I was grateful she was home. As a waitress she wasn’t always home on holidays but Thursdays were her day off so it was a guarantee for her to be home.  This made her happy, being home and working continuously on the meal.  It wasn’t as if her temper didn’t flair or that she didn’t feel the pressure but you could tell her personal satisfaction when all was done.She continues to make the meal today for all of us and our families.  She is seventy-eight as of yesterday and she is still waitressing.  We will go to her table tomorrow and eat our traditional food that brought brightness and gratitude in the darker, poorer and confusing days of our youth.  When my parents divorced, my mother, following the laws of the church, stopped going and receiving communion. And yet, Eucharist, which means Thanksgiving, is present at her table every year. This is where I see God; in her toil, in her humor and in her undying and imperfect love for her children. The church made her feel unworthy and unwelcome but God seeing the goodness of her heart and the difficulty of her situation, gave her the gift of Eucharist through us, her children. My mother is Thanksgiving.  I would not know how to define it without her.So today, I pray for all those who are struggling to keep their children together and fed.  For all of those who are searching for a more just and peaceful world.  Today,  I also thank God, in all humility, for letting our family experience this exquisite love for so long.Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and many blessings to everyone else!