Thanksgiving Branches

A Thanksgiving Branch

This day for giving thanks is like no other

For it is recognizing the blessings we see in each other

and even more to embrace the selves yet revealed

 in the phenomenon of gifts from Christ and God our Father.

Here sits dad.  Here sits Vern.

Such great love in the loss and sorrow,

yet perpetual proof of our faith,

that we immerse in tomorrow

Our parents, a monument, that led the way to bring forth a family to share every day

with brothers and sisters and husbands and wives

and children and grandchildren that texture our lives.

I give thanks for the joys that crescendo so free, even the small ones so simply bestowed on  me.

And when struggles and doubts and fears find their times,

I am thankful to know I am shaped as the silhouette of a branch,

on the greatest of vines.