Thanks

     An English cousin whom I had never met before recently completed an across Canada trip in six weeks ending up on the West Coast. We had the pleasure of his company for a few days and I realized how much I regretted not spending more time in England. All my relatives with the exception of my immediate family live there and I see them almost never. It is the fate of most immigrants I suspect and one that makes me sad. However I do have the blessing of much family here: parents, siblings and their children and their children too now. And not to be taken for granted is the blessing of my husband's family, now my family too: many siblings with many children and their many children too....
     Of course there are no Thanksgiving dinners served in Britain and that is too bad. Turkey dinner is my very favourite meal accompanied of course by very un-British cranberry sauce (the more the better) and whatever else may be served as long as there is gravy (again, the more the better). And while this post seems to be about food, it really isn't.
     It is in fact about what I am grateful for and though the list seems short it is wide. I am thankful for family, health, the freedom to vote and worship and travel where we want...life is good here.  And while my English cousin has a great life in his home country I think we have it even better here. I am not talking about turkey dinner now but the beauty and abundance of our nation; the sheer size of it, the diversity of its people and its various landscapes defy description, at least by me. When my parents left England over 60 years ago, I am sure they did not know what lay ahead of them except perhaps something more. And that something more is exactly what I am so thankful for today.