since our family is far away and the 4th thursday in november is just a regular day on the italian calendar, eric and i won’t be celebrating an american thanksgiving today.
yet that on-our-way-to-christmas aura is still there. i’ve been thinking of holidays past, both happy warm times with loved ones and a few sad and lonely times without.
and because it suddenly felt like a cozy and hygge-y and just-right-thing to do, i pulled the long winter by laura ingalls wilder off my bookshelf and settled in.
as i became enveloped in the ingalls family’s heartening-but-difficult life on the dakota prairie, i began thinking of a far-away place in a long-ago time.
i was transported back to my turret room at graydash, my home up on the hillside in anchorage, alaska. back to the winter of 2001-2002, with its snowy-white landscape and frigid temperatures.
back to cuddled-up reading with my two boys (then ages 8 and 3). along with my husband’s steadfast support, they were my greatest sources of comfort during the long and painful process of my mom’s illness and eventual death.
back to experiencing the longest winter of my own life.
oh my, how i miss her still.
and as much as i admire my two adult sons’ independent lives and accomplishments, oh how i miss those little boys too.
bittersweet. life is forever bittersweet.
hold your family close as you give thanks today.
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