DON'T FORGET to SAY THANK YOU

"Don't forget to say Thank You" ... my mother's words echo in my mind. Sometimes when she would say that I would want to retort, 'gee, Mom, I really am not four years old anymore, and I DO say Thank You.' And for the most part, I would give my thanks to the person or persons she was reminding me to say it to. But like anyone, I forget. And most of the time, I forget ... a lot. It's a really, really bad feeling when you CANNOT say "Thank You" anymore. It is one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced. It is not that I cannot actually say the words, "thank you", it is that they now cannot be said to the people I want to say them to. My mother, for one, my father, my brother-in-law's mother, a co worker; all of whom have died. There is an ex-boyfriend I would like to thank for the many hours of laughter and love he gave me, and he has moved away, and keeps no contact with me by his choice. Friends, relatives I have lost contact with... I would love to contact them and tell them, remember that time when... well, Thank You for that time when... There is a great aunt I had who made the BEST peanut butter cookies and fudge. Did I ever thank her for her hospitality? the times when she would open her home to my family and feed us, not just anything but a meal lovingly prepared to please us. She would take me over to her "buffet" in the dining room and show me her special clock, the one with the dancing ballerina (it sits on my piano today, still enchanting me) and my eyes would light up with ecstasy when she would take the time to turn it on and I would dream of fairy tales (and still do). Did she ever know how much I appreciated that?

I kind of think of Thanksgiving Day as more of a day for making a resolution than New Year's Day. And this Thanksgiving Day, I hope to get it down in my mind and heart, to thank people. not just for the greeting card or phone call on my birthday, not just for a gift at Christmas time, not just for the neighbor picking up my newspaper. I want to say Thank You for ... the hugs my kids give me, for the smiles they give, my sister's daily phone calls (hey you forgot last night, Sis) for the phone calls from a friend who knows I have been having some hard times, for the on-line friends who send me jokes and notes For the flowers and cards when my mother died on September 2nd of this year, the heartfelt, the acts of kindness you do....... for spending time with me, talking, sharing laughter or tears, your concerns, what is going on in your life...

Do YOU know how much I appreciate YOU????? I may have forgotten to tell you...THANK YOU!!! And come Thursday at the dinner table when we bow our heads to say Thank You for the abundance most of us do have I will be thanking the Almighty Father for you all. Thank you for the time you spend with me, for the special gift you are to my life. And it would take hours to name you all and all the wrenderful deeds you have done.

It would probably take all Thanksgiving Weekend to enumerate my thanks for my parents, relatives and friends, for autumn leaves that crunch when we step on them, for skies so blue it makes my eyes tear, for mountains so majestic they point their noses to God's sky, (okay for snow, too, it is pretty after all), for oceans teeming with all sorts of amazing creatures, for books I've read, for songs I hear, for the LOVE of my dear family and friends and for the privilege of knowing them and loving them. There will come a day when I cannot say Thank You any more. Some day I may not be able to speak or hear. I may check out of this life before you do. So before any of us goes anywhere I cannot reach you to say Thank You, let me say it now and for as often as I can, for you are more precious to me than you could ever know. Thank you for letting me into your heart and letting me love you. And, (still trying to be obedient), as my mom would always say, "Don't forget to say Thank-You"!!!

With my love, karen