🍂 thanksgiving '25 - at the table together

thanksgiving has often been painted in warmer tones. we have longer tables with comfort food laid out in front of us, loud rooms full of people who feel like our home. it is a holiday that allows us to pause, to take a deep breath, and to name the things that we are grateful for. and yet for many of us, gratitude does not show up alone. it arrives hand-in-hand with something that seems much quieter, but more complicated.

grief.

maybe this year looks different for you than years before. maybe someone is missing from the table. maybe life changed in ways that you did not exactly plan for. or maybe you are living a version of yourself you are still learning how to love. it is hard to be thankful when your heart is busy remembering what was, or wondering what could have been. and still, though, both truths can still exist.

you can still be grateful for what you have, while grieving what you lost. you can laugh around the table, and cry when the night settles. and you can hold joy in one hand, and ache in the other.

there is no rule that gratitude must be loud or easy. sometimes it looks like just showing up, even when you are tired. sometimes it is the smallest of things, like a warm plate of food, a familiar voice talking back to you on the phone, or someone squeezing your hand gesturing you that it will be okay. i will not lie to you and tell you that it is not messy, because it is messy. but gratitude is allowed to be quiet sometimes.

if this season feels especially heavy for you, i hope that you are able to give yourself grace. i hope that you allow the room for every emotion that you end up feeling, and not just the pretty ones. grieving is not the absence of thanksgiving, but the proof that there was love here, and there still is. the heart only hurts when something mattered. as we move into this holiday, my hope for you is very simple. i hope that you feel held in whatever you are carrying right now. that you find the moments of light in the darkness, even if they are just for a little while. let gratitude be gentle. honor grief. there is space for both at this table.

with that said, happy thanksgiving from my heart to yours.

~ ☀️