It’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories–no gravy stress here!

This isn’t about the past; we’re discussing what’s on our plates tomorrow. Let’s do the Hokey Pokey Thanksgiving has arrived!

We’ll get there, don’t worry, but first, a word or two about gravy stress.

One Friendsgiving, we gathered around the kitchen stove, waiting for the final glory–all my friend had to do was make the gravy.

So I said, “Oh no, here comes the gravy stress.”

She said, “There’s such a thing?”

It’s inevitable, all right. It’s a Thanksgiving staple like the Macy’s Day parade and football.

You’re standing there over the hot burners, swirling, bubbling, and sweating, wondering if the liquid will ever get thick enough. The impatience is boiling inside and outside you as all eyes are on you.

That gravy makes or breaks the entire meal (not that I want you to have gravy stress now, too). It can hide any cooking sins–the dreaded dry turkey, having lumps in the mashed potatoes unless you like them that way, and there better be enough to douse all over the stuffing.

Do it right, and you score the winning Touchdown.

Do it wrong, and you won’t be able to face that turkey, let alone anyone else at that table.

There’s no such thing as gravy stress at Friendsgiving or even when it’s just the four of us like it will be this year.

(Plus, we froze last year’s gravy).

No stress. I don’t know how to let that sink in. Somehow, I can’t, so I’ve prepared enough food to feed the guests we won’t host.

Ah, all the loved ones we can’t be with!

I’m so grateful to have the four of us together again, but I’d give anything for some of that gravy stress of the past if it meant having more loved ones gathered around our table. Numbers matter most at Thanksgiving.

Without the gravy stress, I’m suddenly free to enjoy everything I couldn’t appreciate about this holiday. The love is just pouring out of me.

But does that compensate for the sadness I’ll feel when sitting around with those empty chairs–all who cannot join us?

Ah, gravy stress, you can’t live it, and you can’t live without it!

When I’m feeling this tug between how things are and how things were, I’m not grateful for what I have now. I need to restock.

We don’t dole out gratitude based on merit.

I had a great year and did everything you asked me, so I deserve good things to happen to me, and then I’ll be thankful, by the way.

Or, I’ll express my thanks only if the circumstances are deserving–only if everything works out according to my plan.

Of course, I don’t think that way.

But just in case I might have, Thanksgiving screams out for me to get my gratitude adjustment: be grateful for what I’ve got.

And even when I don’t see it, be grateful anyway.

What a gratitude adjustment!

And now, it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and I’m doing the Hokie Pokie!

Why the Hokey Pokey? Funny, you should ask. Alex went to Virginia Tech, and the Hokie Bird is their mascot, and they never fail to do that silly dance at their football games.

Funny enough, that Hokie Bird just so happens to be a turkey.

Before my gratitude adjustment, I thought it was all a bit hokie.

But now that I’ve had my gratitude adjustment, I can’t believe that there’s this group of people who celebrate Thanksgiving year-round.

Imagine being grateful every day of the year!

And while I’m doing the Hokey Pokey, turning myself around, feeling grateful and truly blessed, I’ll have you know how much you mean to me.

In case you didn’t know it, I’m grateful. It’s Thanksgiving, and we’ve become a family (an amusing one at that).

We’ve proven that if we can muse together, we can stay together. May we continue to be there for the good laughs, the good muses, and the love we share.

It’s a Happy Thanksgiving–Happy Thanks-musing kind of thing!

So, let’s leave all our unappreciative selves at the door and take them off the way we take off our shoes. Let’s pass on the gravy stress while we’re at it.

Let’s be grateful to share our love and gather around one table, if only in our minds and hearts, and say, “Pass the gravy, please.”

And then, we’ll hear the most beautiful words, “Thank you!”