A childhood friend invited me to visit with her to share Thanksgiving dinner with her and her family in Massachusetts. Some of them I know and have known my whole life, others I have met recently, and others I was only meeting that day for the first time. It was such a beautiful invitation, and one that touched me deeply, because I know from experience that invitations to Thanksgiving dinner with families who are closely knit are invitations to be in the most intimate of times and to be trusted to belong in that place and with those people during one of the sweetest and most dearly beloved get togethers we know.
Seeing this friend and her family, and being reconnected with those who I had not seen in years has had such a beautiful and profound impact on me during a time in my life when I am reaching back to my own roots and reexamining my own history and my own experiences of family and friends over the years. I have had some beautiful holidays with beautiful people in my life, but somehow this time shared with a friend I've known all my life in a home I have grown so fond of and with people who are dear to me, and some who I've known as long as I can remember, was a time of peace and joy and well being deep in my soul that seemed in a way to renew and refresh and give me a clear and new foundation for the future life ahead of me.
Because we were at her home, I didn't take any photographs of the wonderful meal and beautiful people, and in its own way that was extraordinary too because I so often am documenting and photographing the things I do, the people I know, and the places where I go. Having this private time away from sharing with the world and sharing instead being completely present every moment so closely with us all together was precious. It reminded me of long ago times when it was just people being together, sharing, laughing, talking, caring, and enjoying beautiful moments without feeling the need to photograph it or create a video, when the phone was just a thing to call people on to wish them well and say I love you.
I'll leave you here with this photograph of another beautiful place where I visited with that beautiful friend a month or so ago. It too gave us time and space to be together, sharing about our lives and growing closer in peace and love and joy and caring. Thanksgiving can be a time when we focus on what we are grateful for, and I am grateful for the abundance of beauty that beautiful friends like this have shared with me.
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