Thankful during a pandemic

This weekend is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. With all the challenges of this pandemic, I am ready for an extended weekend to relax and reflect on being thankful.

Thankful for our daughters, who have balanced student teaching, living on their own, and supporting their parents in isolation. They have done amazing work with their student teaching and prepping for the final semester of their senior year. And what a blessing they have been to us while we have been separated. They stop by at least once a week to drop off groceries or other items, pick up mail, and spend a few minutes chatting with us. We also stay in contact online and via phone. Saddened we have not been able to spend more time together, enjoy meals as a family, and get to know their roommates and friends better. We are so looking forward to them coming home for the extended Christmas break. They are quarantining ahead of time so they can come home to be with us. Such a blessing.

Thankful for our extended family. It will be emotional this year to be separated from our family. This will be the first Thanksgiving that Angie and I celebrate alone as we remain socially distanced to protect Angie’s health. Rather than coming home, our daughters will be celebrating with both their grandparents over the weekend. I am still planning to cook a Thanksgiving meal for us and we will Zoom call with various parts of our family, but it will be different. We love our family dearly and are thankful they are all healthy, looking forward to a time we can all get back together again.

Thankful for a Faith that can move mountains, but doesn’t have to on a daily basis. These days, it works hard to help me push back the covers, get out of bed, help my wife prepare for the day, and head into work each morning. Angie and I miss our church family so much. Online worship services are a blessing, but they cannot replace the time spent together in corporate worship nor the times after the service talking with friends. Thankful for our Pastor Mark who makes the time to visit with us via the porch or garage so we can keep some face-to-face time with our church.

Thankful for friends who are patient and understanding of our extra social distancing, who play games with us online, have online calls to chat, shop for random items for us at times, and check in on us periodically to make sure we are ok. When this pandemic is over, we are so planning a huge PARTY to celebrate our daughters’ 21st birthday, my 50th birthday, our anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever you want, we just want to spend time again with all our friends and family in person. We miss you all and are thankful for you.

Thanksgiving can be a great time to reflect on our lives, both the celebrations and the challenges. The celebrations are easy to remember and share, but the challenges teach us and help us grow. Through it all, be thankful always.