Thanksgiving Day: Thankful Thoughts and Thoughtless Tragedies
Spending time with each helps keep the spark alive…relationships are strengthened when you take on challenges together.
Today, November 22, 2012, is Thanksgiving.
It is also the 49th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
They say every cloud has a silver lining.
And I have found that to be true.
Last Valentine’s Day, I did a guest post on Bob Brody’s Letters to My Kids blog, sharing with my children how I met their dad. Mr. Brody encourages parents to write letters to their kids…here’s an excerpt from that post.
Dear Jason, Peter and Caroline,
Your future dad and I met as freshmen in college. I sat in front of him in English 1.1 and he sat in front of me in Social Science. Both of us were dating other people pretty seriously. And so for the first two months of the fall semester, we were just classmates who spoke with each other as we walked into or out of the room.
Then came November 22, 1963. The intercom crackled. “The President is dead!”
For several moments no one reacted. And then everyone did. Screaming! Crying! Young men pounding their fists on their desks!
As we all exited the classroom, your future dad was right behind me.
“I’m going to walk home!” I exclaimed to no one in particular. “I can’t face sitting on the bus squashed between hordes of people!”
“I’ll walk with you,” the voice behind me said. “Where do you live?”
As it happened, we lived only four streets away from each other.
By the way, there are some girls who look fantastic even when they cry. If only I were one of those. Whatever eye makeup I was wearing was smudged and probably dripping onto my cheeks and chin. Plus, my nose was red and my skin blotchy.
No matter. Your future dad and I walked and talked for over an hour, until we reached my house. And when we looked at each other, I know we saw into each other’s souls and we wanted to walk and talk together forever.
Our relationship grew stronger and closer during that next semester. By the summer, we were dating each other exclusively. We got married as soon as we graduated from college. And our relationship has flourished ever since. To this day, we remain the most loyal of soul-mates.
Out of tragedy, then, came an unexpected opportunity for love. In a sense, sad to say, it took a death to bring you all to life. We’ve never forgotten that, and we never will.
Love,
Mom
1993…The Year of the Graduations (Junior High, High School and College)
Children love to hear about how their parents met. They want to know about their parents’ childhoods…did dad get into trouble for misbehaving in school…did mom play with dolls or tag after an older brother. Kids enjoy hearing about when they were babies. Writing letters to your children helps give them the knowledge of experiences and strengthens their feeling of belonging…a very important component of self-esteem!
Have you ever written a letter to your child?
What would you say?
I wish everyone a most Happy Thanksgiving Day! Will you be rushing out tomorrow for the Black Friday specials? If you are looking for gifts for parents or teachers of young children, I encourage you to save yourself time and money…Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cookingis the perfect present…and you can quickly and easily buy it online. If you are looking for gifts for young children…check out my Top Ten Gifts List. You will not have to worry about buying batteries or finding an unused electrical outlet for ANY of these items!
Related articles
- We Are More Thankful Than You Are (niederfamily.blogspot.com)
- Is it really about Thanksgiving? or “Why I’m boycotting ‘Black Friday’…” (3rdculturechildren.com)
- Whose hand? (hundredpercentchanceofchange.wordpress.com)
- Thanksgiving? (rebuildingtheroof.com)
- Thanksgiving (alettertomychildren.wordpress.com)
- Dallas honors assassin’s second victim, policeman J. D. Tippit (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- Thanksgiving Day: Why I’m Thankful For My Divorce (huffingtonpost.com)
- Thanks (kimberlyabettes.wordpress.com)
- Thanksgiving (om.co)
- The day before Thanksgiving. (craftysuburbmomma.wordpress.com)
Posted on November 22, 2012, in parenting, self-esteem, Thanksgiving and tagged Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Black Friday, Holiday gift suggestions, Love, Show Me How! Build Your Child's Self-Esteem Through Reading, Thanksgiving, Writing letters to our kids. Bookmark the permalink. 19 Comments.
Beautiful post — and he must be a wonderful man!
Yes he is, Beth!
I have (so far) not written a letter to my children. I like hearing stories about my parents a lot! Great post.
Hahaha…you have a fine sense of humor, Erik! Hearing stories about our parents when they were younger helps us see them as human beings…not just as parents.
I loved this post, Vivian!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Thanks so much, Tracy! Hope your Thanksgiving was beautiful!
What a wonderful story, from such a sad day!
I think tragic events often create strong bonds between people…although sometimes they can destroy relationships! And to think we basically lived around the corner from each other for many years…we were definitely meant to be together.
Have a beautiful Thanksgiving, Dawn…and a wonderful Holiday season!
This is a lovely story. It’s always good to hear that joy comes even in sorrow.
It definitely did for us.
Thanks for stopping by…I’m so glad you enjoyed the story!
This is such a great story and definitely worth sharing it with your kids. I won’t be sharing a similar story with my kids but I think I’ll write them each a letter for when they turn 18. I’ll give it to them with Dr Seuss’s book Oh, The Places You’ll Go. Of course I can’t write the letter yet because there are many years to go and my letter would be quite different if I wrote it today instead of a few years from now. Thinking about it, maybe I should write them a letter sooner than that, maybe when they turn 10.
Yes Milka…we will all have different letters to write…I’ve written many letters to my kids over the years…the first when they were just born…as if they had written it as infants…their observations, etc.
But any special occasion (B-day, etc) could be a great time to write each child a letter…or just because you love them.
I’ve written my kids some funny notes, or more loving notes, but never a letter. I guess it’s because one of them can’t read yet and the other is reading well now. I’ve drawn a lot for them too, since the visual helps when they can’t read. But you’re right, I should think about writing more than drawing as the time goes on. Although they really love what I give them, so maybe a mix of both.
You are so talented, Milka! And I know they will treasure the pictures you have given them.
What a touching, sweet story, Vivian, and what a wonderful idea to writ it for your children and grandchildren. We have told our stories but never written them down, which is so shortsighted.
Thanks for the reminder.
I’m so glad you like the idea…in my children’s baby albums, I have a letter I wrote for each of them…as if they had written it when they were born.
Great post for Thanks Giving day Vivian ,
Thanks for sharing my friend
And thank you, Jake…for always coming by with a lovely comment.
Pingback: Three Holiday Gifts From Show Me How! « Positive Parental Participation