Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays for as long as I can remember. I often quip "family, friends, food and football...what could possibly be better?"

This year, as the holiday approached I was filled with mixed emotions. My parents are literally across an ocean, my siblings migrated south years ago - it's just me and the kiddos holding it down in the heartland. As I began to think of the holiday traditions that inspire my fondest memories, the tears silently began to fall. There would be no late night pre-Thanksgiving meal prep over soul-stirring conversation sprinkled with incessant laughter in the kitchen with my mother. Nor would there be the early morning race to secure dibs on the pots, pans, burners and oven racks needed for your contribution to the Thanksgiving fare only to be interrupted by my father's insistence that we prepare an obscenely large breakfast outdone only by the ridiculous amount of food with which the table would be laden hours later. What could replace working side by side with the two people who nurtured you throughout your life to joyfully prepare a meal that will nourish three generations of love?

I will miss the kids circling the kitchen like buzzards hoping to get a sample of whatever was emerging from the stove/oven. I will miss laughing until I cry at the ridiculous, impromptu songs that my mother, my sister and I sing and dance along to; making them up as we go. I will miss running back and forth between the kitchen and the family room to see some spectacular catch that my Daddy knows I wouldn't want to miss and listening to my father, my son, and my brother give me the play-by-play with intricate detail until I am able to join them to see it for myself. More than that, I will miss sitting down to an overflowing table surrounded by the people whom I love most in life feeling a love so deep and powerful that it practically aches. Knowing in that moment that there is absolutely no place on earth that I would rather be and that I am surrounded by an insurmountable abundance of unconditional love is a memory that defies description.

As I started to reflect on these memories, so beautiful in their simplicity and profound in their authenticity, I couldn't be sad. I feel blessed because they will always be a part of me. Love like that doesn't fade - regardless of time and distance. While I will miss the traditions, I have been blessed with a beautiful opportunity to create some of my own. And though some of the faces may be different, I am still blessed to be surrounded by a love so pure that I feel it from the top of my head to the soles of my feet - so much so that it practically aches.

So, on this Thanksgiving Eve, I want to breathe a word of thanks. I am admittedly feeling a bit "mushy" (as my sister would say); blame it on my favorite holiday, blame it on new love. Whatever the case, I trade my melancholy for unrestrained gratitude. I acknowledge that I am blessed far beyond measure - from the memories on which my present is built to the dreams to which my present aspires - with enduring love that I pray everyone will experience this Thanksgiving and everyday thereafter.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Riisa Renée