December 01, 2014


Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day is over for another year. It is one of my favorite holidays. I pray yours was as nice as mine. There are many things for which I am thankful. However, the thing that I am often reminded of at Thanksgiving, are the memories I have from my childhood.

We moved to California from Texas when I was eight or nine. Those first few years were hard and when I think back, I am amazed that we survived. Even though we had very little, we were happy. The churches would know which families were in need and provide everything needed for a good Thanksgiving meal and the food would usually be enough to last for a week or more.

We would get up on Thanksgiving mornings with the smell of turkey in the oven. The whole hose smelled of turkey. My mother would have prepared the cake and sweet potato pie the night before. The dressing, green beans, corn, rolls, and gravy would be prepared that day and the house would smell so good our mouths watered waiting to eat.

It was truly a feast to enjoy. My mother made sure we gave thanks to God, the church minister, the members, and businesses that made the donations and provided for our family and others in the same position. I remember those days now with great gratitude because we had churches that cared about people in the neighborhood and while you might be embarrassed about your circumstances, you were grateful for the people who cared.

Over the years, I have tried to pay back the people by donating to organizations like the Salvation Army that I trust to help those in need. My children have been blessed. They have not had to experience what it is like to go to bed hungry. I pray they never have that experience with their own families.

I hope you didn’t mind my reminiscing. This my first post and I wanted to share something personal so you get to know a little about me.

Remember, no matter how humble your beginnings may be, you don’t have to accept that  that is what your life has to be. Dream a dream and then make plans to make that dream a reality.

Have a great day, lw