Thanksgiving, 2010

It is hard some times when your heart is heavy to stop and be thankful. Yet if you think about the things that laden your heart, there is a blessing in them somewhere. We don't always recognize blessings for what they are.
I am so saddened that my soul mate and friend is no longer with me. He has been with me for 40 Thanksgivings and for 39 anniversaries (Saturday, November 27)-since the first day that we met. I feel quite "odd" and "out-of- place". Course if he were here, he would have jumped on that last statement. He would have said, "You should feel odd, because you are odd!"
This morning when I looked in the mirror there were more wrinkles etched on my face. I am thankful for the wrinkles, since James Gravenmier was a major contributor for each one of them. I have earned them through the love of that crazy man.
I am thankful that I had 40 years of love for a man and he shared his love with me for 40 years. I am thankful that despite our trials and tribulations, life was still worth living and we had God as our guide and rock. I am thankful for my wonderful children, grandchildren, and the young men that they call their spouses. I am thankful for the blending of Drake/ Gravenmier (all 1000 families of Gravenmier offspring)/Smith/Westbrooks/Shearin/Whitby/Vandiver/Jackson/Camper families into one herd known as family and friends.
I am thankful for all those many blessings that are spoken, those that are whispered in reverence, and for the many that are yet to come.
Thank you. Thank you.
I am humbled beyond words on this a day of Thanksgiving.
May you find a bounty of food, friends, family, fun, fellowship, faith, and of course lots and lots of football this Thanksgiving, 2010.
Miss you Mama, Daddy, and James G.
May God's light shine on you and keep you safe!
Love and peace,
Cathy