It’s almost 1:40 am on Thanksgiving morning.  Some might wonder – what in the world is he doing writing a blog at this time of the day – not to mention the day he is doing it.  Well I will be honest; I have been writing it in my mind all day but something just wasn’t right.

The picture in this post is of my three kids – really two but the female in the picture is our youngest son Spencer’s girlfriend Paige and for all intents and purposes, we already count her as ours.

They flew in from Boise on Saturday and I picked up our oldest son, Scott, at the airport about six hours ago.  Michelle and I have been looking forward to this ever since we decided a few weeks ago to fly Scott back home from the University of Hawaii for Thanksgiving.  I guess you kind of get used to being “empty nesters”, but when you get them all back home, it doesn’t take long to remember what it used to be like.

Life is full of change from the day you are born until the day you breathe your last.  It’s sort of funny how the things you appreciate change from year to year.  This has been the longest stretch our family has ever been apart – since last Christmas.  Scott will graduate in about a month and we will be talking over the next few days on his plan for the future.

I guess as time goes by, I find myself thinking a lot more about the good times from the past and how they will compare the the future.  Our kids will soon be starting their own careers and families and new traditions will be started and new memories created.

I have seen so many posts the last few days on being grateful.  Many were about success and accomplishment, but the ones that resonated with me were the ones about memories – the stuff you can’t buy or plan.  The kind of memories that just happen spontaneously.

I was sitting on the couch with Paige watching a Hallmark Christmas movie earlier as Scott and Spencer talked in the back of the room about – well I guess stuff that young twenty somethings talk about.  It really didn’t matter what they were saying, just that they were saying it to each other, face to face.  Paige and I kept trying to guess what would happen next in the movie.  It was really simple, yet priceless in terms of the memory that I will have from it.

Michelle, apparently the only sensible one, was upstairs asleep fueling up for a busy day tomorrow.  It was so rewarding for me to see the look on her face as Scott walked into the kitchen when we got back from the airport.  Expectations fulfilled and anticipation replaced by the excitement that her first born was “in the house.”

Obviously the theme of the week, at least in the states, is gratitude.  So a few things I am grateful for – obviously the full house with all present and accounted for but also a few other thing.  One of them is you – I am very thankful for a loyal group of followers that add value to me every day.  Another thing is that I now have a new appreciation for the “little” things in life that make such a big difference.  I think sometimes we forget those little things.

I challenge all of us to look at every day as a day to give thanks.  No matter what happens, there is always something to be grateful for.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

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Barry Smith   11/28/13   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2013