The day actually was like any other day. I woke up to the tapping on my shoulder of my son saying that he wanted to eat some breakfast and watch cartoons. I was a little groggy and rolled over pretending that it wasn't really him or that perhaps if I had ignored him long enough he would give up and bother his mother. To no avail, his persistence won out and I had to get out of bed. His eyes were shining because he believed this day to be like any other weekend day. Daddy is home and he is making me breakfast. The sun is up and I'm still at home.

His sister was soon to follow like a whirling dervish wound tighter than a kite string knowing that today was a holiday and she gets to help make the pumpkin pie. She has spent her week at school being taught about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims and Indians, and has been inquisitive all the while asking any question she could possibly think of about the scenario. I wished at that moment that I had their energy, or enough energy to actually make breakfast of cereal and milk.

Soon it became quiet and I felt a peace coming over me. Stress that had began to build in my chest in past years because of having to host a large group or because I had to be somewhere on time with a tribe of children was soon a memory. I sat there in my sweats knowing that my children could care less if I changed my clothes or that there were a few pieces of laundry still sitting in the hallway. They were living in the moment and the moment was good.

We started slow not knowing how to cook for such a small group. "How many potatoes do we peel", and "doesn't that Turkey look awfully small", we pondered. The turkey was so small we could sleep in and still eat early. We finally sat at the table, kids excited because they had special glasses, and Mommy making sure all was just so. I was wide-eyed looking at the bounty in front of me and taking in all I surveyed.

Of course I was not looking at the food, I was looking at my family. For so long I had dreamed of this day. I had always thought it to be a dream. Something that was unattainable like being the "King of My Castle". I wanted to have a family and be thankful like my parents before me. I never quite understood the look of peacefulness on my Dad's face until this day. He was proud of what he had done. He had that brightness in his chest looking to burst out and shine its light upon what was before him.

It has now clicked and become quite clear to me. Finally after walking though the harsh desert and being lost for 40 years I had found that land of milk and honey, or turkey and dressing as it were. My daughter asked, "Do you know what I'm thankful for?" I was very interested as she went through her list describing the little things in life that as adults we tend to take for granted. A child of 5 years of age also gets the picture that I had seen but, with the outside things in our lives that cloud our vision, it had blurred over time. I was amazed about her feelings and the clarity of her thought about happiness. This was not just another weekend day like my son thought, it was not just a holiday where we get to help make and eat pumpkin pie. This was a day that made us all realize that life is simple and we are happy. It really can just be that "one" thing that makes it right, that makes it complete.

Not everyone has the same thing that makes him or her whole, or that makes him or her come to a point of understanding. For some it’s completely different. It has nothing to do with having children or spouses or whether they could look upon the picture I have with the same elation. Find that one thing and hold it tight, and be thankful if only for a moment. Hopefully these moments will reproduce and bear fruit. I pray for this in your lives, because today in that fleeting moment I was truly thankful.