During this season of Thanksgiving, I celebrate all the blessings in my life. Thanksgiving has always been the big family holiday in my maternal family. Rarely did we have less than 30 people gathered at the table. After hosting became too difficult for my grandmother, we divided up the cooking and hosting was shared by my cousin Eric or I. Thanksgiving was never expensive trips, elaborate schedules or exclusive. It was simple-family and even some friends, too much great food and some competitive board games with the ritual of the touch football game every year. Everyone knew they could bring someone as a guest even if they didn’t call ahead. My grandmother thought it was important that we all gathered at a common table so she would have borrowed tables from the church in order to make this happen. Every year was guaranteed to have laughter, debate and love.
In 2010, both of my grandparents died just a few months apart from each other. Since then, we have struggled to find our way together. We divided into smaller branches of the family and attempted to start new traditions. But as I speak to my cousins, we have come to realize that we all feel a sense of loss by losing our commitment to gathering together for this season of Thankfulness. This year my cousin Jessica invited us to gather again in her home. We didn’t all make it but it was better. I felt connected to those in my family that I haven’t seen in years. We are a new family with children who have been born and relationships that have been formed. We have a whole group of little busy boys that never existed before. It is a joy to see the changes and to connect to those we rarely get to see. It was a blessing to catch up with the lives of my cousins. My hope is that this common table continues as we forge new traditions and remember the legacy of what we have been blessed with.
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