The Day Before Thanksgiving

T-minus one hour and 13 minutes until Thanksgiving 2013, lovers.

I've been busy today, as is the rest of America.

Unconventionally busy, though.  This year is decidedly different from years before.  My family, for instance, is spending the holiday at the beach, and going out to eat to a nice restaurant instead of doing the big schabang with all of our extended relatives.

To be honest, folks, my family tree has seen its fair share of storms over the last 5 or 6 years.

Holding absolutely zero feet to the fire, let me just quickly (and honestly) say time has increasingly dwindled our numbers, there are few left to gather together.

My parents are tired of 40 years of large scale Thanksgiving dinners.  I can't say that I blame them.  The four of us (Moseby has adjusted nicely and is now a fully indoctrinated addition to our family) are headed to the coast for the holiday weekend, and I couldn't be more excited.

There's been a lot to reflect over, the past few weeks.

Particularly in the past few days, I've been pondering the meaning of the word 'unity', and probably for a myriad of different reasons. The word strikes me as suddenly beautiful, as though I've never heard it before.  It rolls off my tongue as I sound it out phonetically on my way to work in the mornings.

The past year, as was the forecast, was indeed a year of solitude.  Conversely, I'm beginning to hope and pray that the theme for next year will instead be one of unity, as I feel for some strange reason that God is laying this word on my heart in a touching, impacting manner.

Perhaps that's why I'm so excited to celebrate Thanksgiving away from home this year.  There is a lonely sort of solitude in sharing someone's memories, but there is a deep unity that accompanies sharing new experiences, and that is what I'm looking forward to over the next few days.

New experiences.

Today I came home from work and I cleaned out my car, bathed the pup, watched Love Actually, packed the pup, packed myself, ironed some clothes, and ignored the paper I have due on Sunday that I haven't really started on yet. Papers are important, yes, but tonight was made for something different.  This is a special night, the night before Thanksgiving.  This is easily one of my favorite nights of the year, although emotional in many ways.

While I was increasingly busy tonight, and getting lots of intermittent lovins' from my pup, I couldn't help but think about the few things that are always on my mind on nights like this.  My grandmother, thoughts of her are always near during the holidays; I feel her moving through my family with warmth and love. I thought back to Thanksgivings past.

Last year, I spent it with a beautiful family of co-workers as we weathered the rush-time shift between the hours of 6pm Thanksgiving evening and 2pm Black Friday morning.  That was one hell of a night to be a barista at the top-grossing Starbucks in the entire state, but it is one of my most favorite holiday memories to date.

Also last year, I spent the Friday after Thanksgiving, celebrating the large meal with my family, circled around the dinner table, holding my 1-month old sleeping niece in my arms and daydreaming about the boy I loved at the time.  It's funny now, how much my niece has grown in one year, and how that love has disintegrated into nothing but happy, distant memories. It's funny how things change.

The year before that my parents and I went out to dinner and came home to decorate the house for Christmas, while watching a campy horror movie my funny, lovely aunt got my dad for his birthday.  I believe it was called "Motel Hell." I was emotional at the thought that in a few short weeks, just after New Year's, I would be starting a new adventure and moving to the beach to attend Ecola.  I had no idea what God had in store for me.

Two years before that, my entire family was together.  There were so many bodies, we needed three tables. I remember smiling until my mouth hurt. I remember hugs, and laughter, and such deep, everlasting warmth.  A sheltering, comforting unity.

A unity that has since been put aside.

A unity that only God in his miraculous grace can restore.

A unity which sometimes, in moments of nostalgic remembrance, I deeply ache for.

Sometimes things happen in life that are neither expected or well-received.  They are not desired, not intended, not understood, not accepted.

And the shame, the guilt, the anger, the frustration, the trenches of hurt and miles of regret are impossible to navigate.

But tonight, I am reminded that while the past breeds disunity, the future demands unity, a perfect unity comprised in the ultimate reign of our God and King.

The future demands unity.  Unity is what this world is predestined for.  As long as we have Christ, we are steeped in unity, and while the past may be painful or impossible to forget, we must remember that there is hope shining at the end of the tunnel, like a bright beacon, guiding us into that perfect unity with Christ. Let us look to the future, and live in the momentous blessing which is every minute of our lives.

These are the special times, lovers.  Right now.  Right in the midst of pain, entrenched in the heart of suffering, battered by the blows of age and regret, we are united in Christ.

These are the special times.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all.

Tell somebody that you love them, tomorrow.  Tell somebody that they are special to you.

I love you, and you, and you.

Goodnight.

Xx