This year -- despite a rocky start -- I am experiencing the essence of Thanksgiving.
It started last week as I ate lunch with a number of men quite successful in their professional life, and now divorced, and listened to them lament that this was not "their year" to spend the holiday with their child-and they hated it -- me too.
Then this weekend my 90-year-old stepfather passed away, and we all sadly gathered (the 6 children -- 3 from each parent, grandkids, and now a great grandchild, and my Mom -- all of us were devoted to Poppa)
And the holidays always remind me of my precious daughter Cassie who left this world when she was just 13.
It would be easy to think of this holiday with sadness and regrets, but I find myself re-learning the lessons of abundance and not scarcity.
For most of us, we are surrounded by an abundance of comfort, people available to love us, and opportunities which we too often recognize only when they're gone.
I am blessed with a wonderful son.
Lucky to be part of a huge family including two more sisters from my father's second marriage -- and despite all odds we have remarkably blended and bonded into a unique, united, and loving family.
I have a job that is an opportunity of a lifetime, nearly 2 million members of my union family who are inspirational, and a country ready and ripe for change.
So when I or you start to complain this holiday about our child or parents, the food or the travel problems or the state of the world -- contemplate the alternative.
It seems trite but I find myself telling everyone with whom I am close to this holiday one thing I appreciate about them.
It feels great.