Yesterday was Thanksgiving. It is a good time to remember what one is thankful for. It is the season. I think that I have written about everything that I'm thankful for before in this blog. Maybe not. Everyday I am grateful for my husband, my children, my family, my friends, my home, my church. I'm thankfuI I didn't get married until I was 27. At the time, several of my close friends were already married and I felt left behind yet I'm grateful that it took time. My children came after a very difficult struggle, so I have appreciated them and their health long before they came into being. I am also grateful for good therapy! I have learned much about myself and family dynamics and in turn makes life much easier to live!!
I'm thankful for books, oh so grateful for books and a thirst for knowledge!! In books and the Internet I was able to find most of the answers for my eldest daughter about pilgrims and Christmas tradition history. I am thankful for the pilgrims who came over in 1620. I am descended from these Separatists who came over from England (really Holland by the the time they left) to get away from the King for religious freedom. Well, technically, I was from the group called "Strangers" (how appropriate) and they were included in the voyage to help pay the bills. One died the first winter yet had a son, and one was a troublemaker. Edward Fuller and Edward Doty are those to whom I am descended from on my mother's side. Mr. Doty was the one in Plymouth court...repeatedly...there are records of his misadventures. I am thinking that my great Aunt Maydelle who researched all of this probably thought that was quite amusing. She did all of the geneology research in the family and I am thankful to her for that now in a more profound way.
Yesterday, I sat with my mom and Riley as we pored through information from Aunt Maydelle, the Internet, and children's Thanksgiving books that my mom had given the girls a few years back. Riley had lots of questions about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. We discovered given names, such as Patience, Remember, Fear, Wrestling, Desire and Love! (I was very infatuated with the family name Membrance some years back... glad we had girls!)
As a family, we sat and watched a History channel show on the origins of Thanksgiving. Riley was transfixed, Mallory needed Legos but she is four. I am so glad to have these moments of togetherness and for Riley's questions which led to our exploration.
I am thankful that the rebel rouser and the one who died the first winter, came over. I can't imagine making that type of journey or living under those types of conditions. There were only five women left to cook the first Thanksgiving meal out of the 200 people who came over. Five!!!! Sixty plus days on a cramped, stinky boat, people dying from the "Great Sickness", the New England winter, fighting with the Native Americans, and oh yeah, there was no food. We are so privileged. We are excitedly planning a trip to Plymouth next Fall.
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