Always Remember That Bad Times Don't Last Forever.

As we approach another Thanksgiving, I was reminded by Facebook that several years ago, facing the first Thanksgiving without SWMBO, I wrote this poem about giving thanks regardless of our personal situation. The death of a spouse is a tragedy. But, sooner or later, life can turn on a dime, and joy finds us again. I found that joy with Diane, and these are the best days of our lives. Thanksgiving will be what you make of it. Give thanks with the knowledge that fate will always bring happiness in the future.

He sat at the table,

Grateful for another year;

but, the empty seats and quiet house

reminded him of Thanksgiving days gone by.

The turkey tasted the same.

The TV blared the same football sounds,

and the house,

though quiet,

was populated by tables and chairs

that had seen it all.

For a moment in time,

he was transported to a day

when the house was filled

with people,

who now spent the day in other locations,

spread out among the only ones

who remembered her.

He looked at old photographs

of smiling people,

mouthing words of thanks,

for another year,

and another meal,

and another prayer

for lonely fellow travelers

on this earthly marble.

Her photograph

surveyed the new proceedings;

and,

he hoped,

blessed the new participants;

he wanted to reach inside the picture frame,

and drag her back

from wherever God had taken her.

He only whispered a silent prayer

that his new tradition

would hold back the tears,

and that the ghosts of turkeys from the past

wouldn’t sit at every holiday table,

until he was just a photograph.