Thanksgiving: A Renewal

This year Matt and I have taken Thanksgiving week off to recharge and recalibrate. I’ve canceled all my recurring activities and appointments to more effectively reset my inner landscape. Leaving the familiar can help us find something new, yet subtle, that we would normally overlook in the busy activities we create for ourselves. And I’m great at creating activity. My challenge now is to be still, to be mindful.

One of the projects I’ve wanted to get back to is scanning old family photos. Three years ago I began digitizing boxes of photos my parents had stored in their basement for over a generation. It’s neat to go back in time and imagine what life was like before even my parents were born. The oldest photo I’ve found thus far is of my maternal great-great grandmother. I haven’t touched those photo boxes in two years, and I miss dipping my fingers in that ancestral heritage.

This photo is my earliest Thanksgiving memory. My mom dressed me as a pilgrim when I was three years old, and I posed with my great grandmother before the family feast. I don’t think I remember the actual day, but I do remember my fourth Thanksgiving. I felt confusion because Mom didn’t put me in my pilgrim outfit. I associated the holiday with dress-up, not realizing I had outgrown my costume from the year before.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and followers.

---