I’d recently revisited the original 1940 film based on John Steinbeck’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Set during the Great Depression, the film details the arduous journey of the Joad family. Dust-bowl sharecroppers, they migrate from Oklahoma to California in search of fruit-picking opportunities.

Purportedly, mechanization and migration had put an end to the sharecropping system by the 1960s, even though some forms of tenant farming still exist. As of November 5, 2022, the average annual pay for a migrant worker in the United States is $43,036 a year.

With Thanksgiving cropping up, my eyes have opened wider to better appreciate what cannot be seen to be grateful for. Just as food brings folks to the table on any given holiday, there are plenty of folks who bring food to that table in addition to farmers and cattle ranchers:

Seasonal fruit pickers, distributors, retailers, truckers, produce managers, stock clerks, cashiers/baggers. And, the list goes on.

Despite rising prices and scarcity of staples, I’m grateful for anticipating a turkey dinner with plenty of trimmings and pies, thanks to the countless number of folks who bring food to the table.

In my capacity of a writer, I’m in plot-wise sync with the upcoming holidays as I continue to draft my Contemporary work in progress. Over the river and through the woods I go, wending along Chapter 23 (686 words thus far).

*Wishing everyone a bountiful Thanksgiving at the table and away from it.

My sincere appreciation to you for reading this far.

Eva’s Authors Den Page: http://www.authorsden.com/evapasco