The year Jim and I got married (1988) we started celebrating Thanksgiving a part from extended family. As educators, November is just a busy time and we always needed the break to catch up and traveling made it complicated. Every year circumstances change but staying home is always the most relaxing way to do Thanksgiving. Erika had a lot of homework as she's working on her masters and was glad we were not traveling this year. As much as I love visiting Jessi, she prefered to make the trip to Madison this year.
Jim and I were talking about the days from our youth, and how that seemed like a different life. It does seem so weird to think about going to my grandma's house for holidays and thinking that memories I have of my grandma are of her being about my age now. I'm not sure I'll ever get to be a grandma, but I know that will change life again big time. There are clear stages that I can see now in hindsight; childhood, young adulthood, parenthood with young children, parenthood with teens and young adults. This "empty nest" stage I'm in now is complicated with having two homes, in two states, so there is a lot of back and forth for Jim and I, but in general it a very simplified life, compared to past stages. There is a lot of freedom. I shared with a friend getting close to 50, I definitely have felt that the 50's have been the best times of my life.
We went around the thanksgiving table to share what each of us were thankful for. It was a funny practice for us because we used to force the girls to do this in the past and now they were leading it. Good health,life, homes, and jobs were all mentioned. We are quite the blessed bunch.