This week we celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving, a traditional festival of the harvest going back to the 1600s.  This year, though it is especially difficult for many to remember what we have to be thankful for, when we are faced with a pandemic that robs us of health and life, and forces us into isolation away from friends and families to protect ourselves.

For my family, my daughter doesn’t have enough leave time to join us this year (she’s serving in the Air Force), but my husband and son will be here, and at some point we’ll contact the extended family digitally.

Very few of us are not affected in some way by the current crisis, but what we should try to remember is that this day, Thanksgiving, is not about our problems, but the blessings we have been given.

The early settlers, most notably the ones who settled Plymouth in early 1620, went through a great deal of hardship-starvation, disease, and death, not to mention complete isolation from everything they had known in Europe-before they invited their neighbors for that defining harvest celebration.  However, they persevered.  They survived, they continued, and they prospered.  

We, their heirs to this dream we all share, can do the same.  We can endure: we can outlast this crisis: we can triumph again.    Hopefully by this time next year, this illness will be beaten back and the fear and isolation will be a distant memory.  For now, we go on as best we can, and find new ways to make this holiday memorable, even with the necessary limitations place upon us.

Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to you all!  Keep safe, and be strong.