Thanks for the butterflies as they brighten my life, and I think I walk lighter in my loafers these days.

Thanks in my heart for the age and experiences that have given me a deeper perspective.

Thanks for the humor that makes a bad situation not so bad anymore.

Thanks for the people whom I've never met yet feel a kindred spirit.

Ah yes! I could go on and on with more and more.  Funny though how Thanksgiving just doesn't make a whole big difference to me anymore. I'm feeling pretty thankful everyday.  Oh yes, I'll be happy to have my "peeps" around for the weekend.  It will fill my heart with thanks and more, but I know that the "more" comes from how I participate with my people rather than trying to fix my people.  I've learned the art of listening without interjecting myself into every conversation.

I think that if I went back in time, the real challenge of that first Thanksgiving was to sit among people that didn't know each other.  Natives and Visitors.  Now sometimes, I'm the native in my house, and other times I'm just passing through.  Most of the time of late, my teenagers are the natives and I know nothing of my territory.

I'm rambling now, so I'll just end with the thought that there are many people out there we don't know or understand, and maybe this holiday season you'll have an chance encounter with a stranger.  My wish for everyone on my thankful list is that they allow themselves to take some time to smile at that stranger, or say "hello", hold that door, wish someone a pleasant day, pay for the guy or gal behind you in the store with the milk and bread but don't tell them, and if you get the chance, sit with someone you don't know and get to know them.  It may even be someone you thought you knew, but really had no idea what made them tick.

Be a shining star for someone else.

(pats heart, and points to you)