Every Monday, we will write about the importance of “connection” in our lives and how we can establish and keep connections.

As Thanksgiving is this week, I have been thinking about how it is such a great time for connecting with family, friends and others.  Not only do we stop to give thanks on this day and reflect on what we are grateful for in our lives, but we also gather together to cook food, play games, catch up on each other’s lives and just be together.  Whether you gather with your immediate family, with your extended family or with friends, I think it is worth it to reflect for a moment on the wonderful connections you have in your life.  Even if you gather only one time a year, it’s a connection that can be felt the rest of the year through.  

It can also be a time to be thankful for and “connect” with those we miss.  My son recently told me about a story he read at school in which the family would cook the favorite dish of family members who could not gather there that day but whom they still wanted to remember.  He then asked whether we could have my Grandpa’s favorite meal as part of Thanksgiving (he passed away 3 years ago) “so we could remember him.”   I thought this was such a wonderful idea — I am not sure what his favorite Thanksgiving dish was, but I remember eating wonderful corn on the cob from his garden with him every year.  So, we will have corn on the cob for Thanksgiving as well.  

Finally, I would recommend the book, Thank You Sarah, the Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving, by Laurie Anderson.  It is a wonderful story about the woman who fought (with letter-writing campaigns to many Presidents) to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.  Finally, after 38 years, President Lincoln agrees (possibly to help reunite the country).  It was a book that showed the power of perserverence, the power of the pen (my son was very intrigued by the “pen is mightier than the sword” reference); and also the importance of being together to give thanks!  We make a powerful force when we connect!

Posted under Connecting, Happiness Project, Tradition, Uncategorized