Every day should be Thanksgiving. Maybe not all that food, but certainly all that gratitude. It is one of my favorite holidays; the idea of expressing our thanks is timeless and gratitude can bring the silver lining out of almost any cloud.

It has been a longstanding tradition in our family to go to Gail’s house for a grand Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday after celebrating with our respective families on Thursday. Gail has always planned on it, grants our in-laws their due for the actual holiday, and hosts as many of her siblings and their families who can make the journey to western Kansas to her home.

Part of the tradition is the annual Sisters picture. It is taken each year in Camp Gail, the cozy little hideaway room she has in her house that is all her own. Before this post, there were six pictures of us at the beginning of each blog, adding one each year for every year of this blog–minus 2020. No further explanation needed.

This year, as you may have noticed, the picture is not taken in Camp Gail. This year, Gail passed the torch to her daughter Katy, who lives in Wichita. Katy, her husband Matt and their two-year old son Myles were the gracious hosts this hear, and Gail was thrilled to watch her daughter capably take the reins. Two of our brothers and their families were not able to make the trip because of the weather, their drive would have been three hours through the Saturday morning snow, then three hours back. Wisely, but sadly, they chose not to hit the road.

In Wichita, the snow fell softly, silently and without wind. It was a beautiful winter wonderland scene, until it was time to hit the road. Good thing their house is large, because they ended up with a few more campers than they had planned. My husband and I, as well as our younger son and his wife stayed with my stepson and his wife and kids who live very close to Katy, close enough to safely make our way slowly through the slushy, snowy, icy streets.

Perhaps the blessing we were most immediately thankful for was that everyone traveled safely home. There are always so many more, which is why we need to make every day a day of thanksgiving.

Gail’s grandson Myles was the official taster of our family’s secret-recipe dressing, as well as the ham taster.

New babies are always the star of the show, and Suzanne’s new grandson Jasper was no exception.

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Thirteen years ago, I had an idea to try to do something that would make me offer a very specific form of gratitude at least weekly. The idea struck me the week after thanksgiving 2010, and I set out to stretch Thanksgiving out all year.

I had–yet again–just told a friend “We should have lunch,” when I saw her in passing that week. Except that I knew I wouldn’t ask her for a lunch date, because I never followed up.

I hit the wall on that one. I decided, right then and there that I would never again say let’s do lunch without following up. So, every week (roughly) for one year (plus one month to catch everyone), I asked someone different to lunch. All those people I casually said we should have lunch to, I called them and asked them out. I thought I might have trouble filling the list of 52 at first, but as it turned out, I had to cut it off too soon, leaving more I should have asked to lunch.

I wanted to celebrate every unique relationship I had with each and every person, offering thanks for having them in my life. Of course, Gail and Suzanne were two of my dates.

The catch for them was this: they had to pay it forward to just one person and ask them to lunch, preferably someone they needed to connect with again. Then, they had to report back to me with the story of their lunch date, and each of the 52 entries would consist of my lunch date with them, followed by the story of their lunch date, either written by them or me. I would then turn those stories into a book.

Oh my.

What was I thinking? I’ll compare the process of having the actual dates, writing about them, following up with those dates and getting their stories, to herding cats and snakes at the same time, which explains why it took me 13 years to finish it. That, and I gave up multiple times, succumbing to refrain of this is the stupidest idea you have ever had playing on a constant loop through my head for much of those 13 years. Most of them were diligent and got back to me in short order with their story, but some didn’t. Then, I had to bless a few of them and let them go when they either chose to back out, or simply faded from the picture without a story. And that was okay, because I got to take them to lunch and celebrate them.

So then, I found a few more and added them as “bonus dates,” but they didn’t have to pay it forward, even though a few did.

All that, and the fact that I tend to be a slacker who starts multiple projects and doesn’t finish them, at least not in a timely manner.

Alas, I did finish, and here is the finished product:

Thirteen years to the day after I had my first date–December 1st–I published the book through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.

I made some long-overdue connections, but a few of my dates had life-changing dates. The two on the bottom right of the cover mended a relationship that had been broken for 35 years. They fought over a guy in high school–neither one ended up with him–and hadn’t spoken since. They are close friends once again. Another one knew her time on earth was limited, and she connected with an old friend she hadn’t seen in years. It wasn’t too late. She passed away from pancreatic cancer a few months later.

It is never too late to reach out to those we need to connect with..

If you were one of my lunch dates, thank you so much, especially for your patience. You and your date will get a copy of the book from me. If you need a white elephant gift, consider this book! As always, thanks to any and all who read any and all of my writing.

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Happy Thanksgiving to you every day of the year. Reach out to someone you are grateful for, or reach out to many people you need to connect with. And, if you want to write a book about it, you have my blessing. Just don’t wait 13 years like I did.

Cheers! I’ll drink to that!