Weather Forecast is Good

Here we are again.

It’s Thanksgiving.

My son asked me the other day, “What are we going to do this year for Thanksgiving Mom?”

What does he mean? We are going to do the same thing we do every year. We are going to have family over. We are going to eat turkey and stuffing and potatoes and too much pie. We are going to watch football. We will play games like Rummikub and Bananagrams and Scrabble. We are going to feel stuffed. We are going to start a diet the next day. C’mon, he should know the drill by now. It’s the same every year.

Does it have to be?

There are things about Thanksgiving that are tradition, they are good and we don’t want to change them such as the turkey, the stuffing, the potatoes and the football. But there are other things that sometimes come up that aren’t as good such as family grievances, grudges, judgments and arguments. There’s something about being with family that takes you right back to the past. You have a role to fill in your family. Maybe you are the youngest or the smartest or the most successful or the screw up or the religious freak or the confrontational one or the alcoholic or the lost soul or the entertainer. There are expectations of everyone at the table.

Does this have to be the same every year?

Can you break out of unhealthy patterns?

My husband was looking at the weather and noticed it’s going to be 60 degrees outside on Thanksgiving. He said, “This changes everything!”

I love that. Indeed, it does.

We can be outside! We can go on a walk! We can jump on the trampoline! (Okay, that’s a little overboard considering last time I tried to do that, it didn’t go so well…why does it make me dizzy and out of breath?)

Outside, we are not bound by any expectation. We are still who we were but we are free to become who we are. The windows and doors are open and there is an air of possibility.

It’s a good metaphor for family and growing up really. We keep what works and we give thanks for those things. We meet at Thanksgiving to remember and to celebrate and to give thanks inside at the table. Then we go outside to create new memories…memories that are based on who we are now.

When the day is over, we face a challenge. Can we leave that door open regardless of the weather forecast?

This year I am grateful to God for infinite possibilities.