As Thanksgiving approaches, we are reminded how much we have to be thankful for. So many of our guests visit us while they are celebrating – birthdays, anniversaries, time together, raises, promotions, successful surgeries, retirement, end of treatments. We also have had several that have shared that the trip to Lancaster County might be their last trip together. Each year at this time, it’s easy to remember to be grateful for the big things in life – the love of the people around us, our health, our communities, fulfilling work; but sometimes the little things go unnoticed.
We recently had two different guests, both from California, that reminded me of some of the things that we take for granted. While we may long for southern California weather at times, these guests came to Lancaster County to visit the beauty here. Mimi asked me for some wax paper so that she could collect the different kinds of brilliant colored leaves that were covering most of the grass in our yard. While I do love the fall for the show that the trees put on all around us, I haven’t collected leaves since it was a gradeschool project.
Last week, Laura marveled at seeing her first snowflake – she always wondered if they were really different. Our rare first snowfall just before Thanksgiving provided her a close-up look at these little miracles. Such gifts of nature are all around us, we don’t have to work for them, seek them out at some shopping mall or stand in line to purchase them.
On this Thanksgiving, as we are bombarded by the onslaught of the Christmas rush, I’m grateful to these guests for pointing out the little things….in the words of Elvis, “Thank you, Thank you very much”.
