Giving thanks for all that we have
Published 1:01 am Thursday, November 28, 2024
- The girls’ trip to Disney this year was more magical than ever as it was also a celebration of my sister-in-law Dana’s completion of treatment for breast cancer. Of all the things I’m thankful for this year, a healthy and cancer-free D is at the top of the list. Pictured (L-R) Tate Dye Lindow, Lucy Van Veckhoven, Gena Dye, and Dana Van Veckhoven are all smiles at Walt Disney World. Photo by Lucy Van Veckhoven
“A place becomes a home when it sustains you, when it feeds you in body as well as spirit.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer
The house was overdue for a deep cleaning. G and I have been on the road and away from home for work more this year than ever before. She took on a new role with increased responsibilities this year, and I ended up doing the same, taking on an interim role for six months starting in April.
To say that it has been a busy year would be an understatement, and to say that, because of that busyness, our house needed a bit of attention prior to the holidays would understating things as well. With four dogs, each with different types of hair, cohabitating with three adults, it looked as if the dust bunnies had been working overtime. If only the cleaning fairies had been as industrious!
With much of our family set to arrive Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, we spent several days giving the house a thorough spring cleaning, albeit in the fall. I must admit that I’m moving a little slowly as I sit down Tuesday evening to write my column this week, but I love looking out at the ducks, geese and goats through clean windows.
It seems most appropriate this week of Thanksgiving to write about the things for which I am most thankful in 2024. What most readily comes to mind is the fact that we had both of our children home for a large part of the year.
While our new son-in-law Jake was on deployment with the Navy, our daughter Tate used the farm as her home base while working back here in the states. She flew back to Japan earlier this month and Jake arrived home safely from his first deployment this week.
Seeing the two of them together was an answered prayer (even if it was only through pictures on the family text thread), one that’s been ongoing since he deployed. We won’t have them home for Thanksgiving, but we will have them here for Christmas, and for that I am thankful.
We’ll miss these two over Thanksgiving, but we’re so thankful that Jake completed his first deployment and they are back together in Japan. We look forward to having them home for Christmas. Pictured (L-R) Tate Dye Lindow and Jake Lindow in Japan. Photo provided by Tate Dye Lindow
Having our son Dan home this year has also been a blessing. Dan is in the process of applying to grad school, and his help around the farm during this busy season of life has been a Godsend.
Time is one of our greatest gifts and something that I do my best to never take for granted. The time that I got to spend turkey hunting with Dan this spring created a wealth of treasured memories, including our first double on the first hunt of the spring.
I know as Tate and Dan grow older that we will never have them together at home as much as we had them here this year, and if that were my only blessing in 2024, it would be enough, but we have been richly blessed.
Each year in the spring, G and her sister Dana do a girls’ trip to Disney World. This year that trip had special significance as it was also a celebration of the fact that D had finished her chemo and radiation treatments for breast cancer.
I have not written about this before as D is a private person and I respect that, however, she is also a light to those around her. She is a light to friends and family and a light that is shining bright once again, although I must say that even cancer could not dim her glow.
In the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, “Soulshine,” Warren Haynes sings that, “Soulshine, it’s better than sunshine.” D has that. She has a light better than sunshine, and I’m thankful for her Soulshine more than anything this year.
On a more current note, I recently had the pleasure of speaking to the XYZ group luncheon at Central United Methodist Church. XYZ stands for “eXtra Years of Zest” and the group asked me to speak about my weekly column in The Star and my writing process.
Having Dan home at the farm this spring was a blessing. Looking back over the year, I’m thankful for all the time that we had together in the outdoors. Our opening day was special as we celebrated our first double in the turkey woods. Photo by Gena Dye
One of my topics came from a quote by author M.O. Walsh that I heard during a panel discussion several years ago at the Mississippi Book Festival. Walsh’s quote was simple: “Setting is a character.”
I’ve revisited those words quite often in my writings about the farm, and this week my favorite character and setting will be filled with family and friends as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
During the talk, I also discussed several writers and books that have influenced my writing. The quote that started this article comes from one of those books, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass.”
Few books have impacted me as profoundly as Kimmerer’s and I’ve quoted from it over the years in numerous stories ranging in topics from hunting and gathering to gardening and parenting.
The quote seemed very appropriate this week not only because the farm has often been a character in my writing, but also because I’m sure that there will be stories to come out of this week. Furthermore, since moving here in 2020, I feel that we have all been sustained by this place in both body and spirit.
I’m thankful for all of these things this year and for so much more. Until next time, here’s to a season of thanksgiving for all that we have, and here’s to seeing you out there in our great outdoors.
