Thanksgiving

There is a 13lb turkey baking in my oven. It is stuffed with rice dressing. There are plans for green beans, boiled corn on the cob and whole berry cranberry sauce to go with it. My mother delivered a small pan of cornbread dressing as her contribution to our meal. I am counting my blessings one by one.

Why am I having a Thanksgiving feast when I should be getting ready for Mother's Day? Therein lies the rub. On Tuesday I had planned to surprise my husband with supper cooked on the grill outside. I had it all planned. Roasted corn on the cob, baked beans, hot dogs and deer burgers. I had the buns, the lettuce and tomatoes. I had already chopped the onions. I went to the garage to get the ground meat from our freezer. I was shocked to find the door a couple of inches open and all of the contents defrosted. Upon reflection, my husband and I have determined that he was the last to use the freezer, on Saturday. He denies having left it open. It doesn't matter how it got open, the fact remains that 90% of the contents of our freezer had to be thrown out.

The insult on top of bandaged injury was too much. I was angry and crying when I called him at work to tell him he needed to come home. There was no way I could clean up the mess by myself with a toddler underfoot. All of our deer meat, enough to last us for the greater portion of the year, all of our frozen vegetables and fresh frozen strawberries for making smoothies, a turkey, meals that I had prepared and put away in preparation for nights when I don't have time to cook - all of it had to be thrown out. Oh, did I cry.

Last week we were so incredibly blessed. My mother-in-law's best friend's ex-husband (did you have to read that twice?) recently passed away. He entrusted all of his belongings to his ex-wife. She chose a few personal items that she wanted and invited friends and family over to clean out his apartment. It was a free for all event. If you like it, if you can use it, if you want it, please take it. Among other things, I was offered the entire contents of his pantry. Being the frugal cook that I am and knowing that I regularly cook meals for my church's HELPS ministry, I refused none of it. I was able to pack up his entire pantry of canned goods and shelf stable items like soup mixes and pasta and deliver them to the middle of my kitchen floor in boxes and bags. It took me almost all of last week to get it all organized and sorted and put away. I was so thankful and just kept praising God for such a huge blessing. And then this week to have to throw out so much food.

There were two turkeys in my freezer from January. One was all the way in the back and was only just starting to thaw so I moved it to the refrigerator and let it finish thawing yesterday with plans to cook today. I love roasted turkey. Whole roasted turkeys make me think of family gatherings, comfort food and leftover turkey goodness. I can't eat roasted turkey, no matter what time of year it is, without stopping to count my blessings, to make a conscious note of all that I have to be so very grateful for.

Today I am thankful. I choose to be thankful.

I have washed two loads of laundry and have hung them on the line to dry. I've cooked a wonderful supper for my family and have meals planned for the leftovers. My family is healthy. My husband has a full-time job. We have a home, with a roof, and it does not leak. No one in my family is in danger of going hungry, even with all of the food that was thrown away. I have a working dryer, even if I only use it when it rains or I don't have time to put the clothes on the line. I have a husband who loves me, and he only loves me. I have a job. I have childcare that I can completely trust while I am at work (thanks Mom!). And that is just the beginning of my list...