The Thanksgiving Table

I feel very blessed because God has been so good to me. Besides all the important things in life, this year I am also very thankful for each and every single person who makes me feel appreciated.

While peacefully setting up this beautiful Thanksgiving table for my family, I recognized one of my favorite feelings in life inside my heart; joy! Since I was a little girl, I enjoyed helping set up tables for the holidays. Even recently, when I traveled down to Brazil to spend Christmas and New Year’s with my mom, I would always be the one in charge of setting up the tables. I am meticulous and pay close attention to the smallest details.

When setting up a table for a special occasion, I am not only taking into consideration the table and its looks, but how the people who will congregate around it and enjoy a meal made especially for them will be able to sense how much they are cared for. More than an area to eat, to me the table represents the place where friends and/or family gather to spend quality time together. In fact, most of the best conversations and historical moments of my life have happened around a table.

As I kept working on it and anticipating the reaction of my husband and daughter when they would finally see it, I recalled one specific occasion in which I was setting up the table for a New Year’s Eve celebration at my mom's house recently. It was very important to celebrate special dates with my family members, so instead of taking advantage of the winter break to visit some new place, which we always wanted to do, we went to Brazil. After becoming a mother, I believed it was the right thing to do.

However, that started to change after I was told the work I had done to set up the table could have been done in five minutes: I refused to take everything off of the table and move it so individuals who wanted to park the car on the other side of the table could do so. That was the reason I was forced to hear such an insult.

Although it was unpleasant to hear, it is one of the reasons I’m so appreciative of ones who surround me and care enough to show respect and appreciation for the time I dedicate to them. So, today I want to say I am thankful for my husband and daughter. Also, they make me feel appreciated for the simplest things I do, no matter how little. And mostly, I am thankful to have them by my side to celebrate occasions like these in peace and harmony.

I've been fortunate in the last few years; I have encountered very grateful and appreciative people along the way, like friends who take the time to say “Thank You” every once in a while. That’s something I was not used to.

“Thank you so much, Nanda! You have helped so much!"

"No need to Thank me! I do it for selfish reasons."

"Meaning what?" asked the room mom of my daughter’s class.

"Well, I do it because it makes me feel good and I enjoy it. If I didn't like it, I probably wouldn't be helping."

"Still worth being appreciated."

"You are right about that."

Right at that moment of helping set up the Thanksgiving party, I realized how much I appreciate the opportunity to associate with people like this fellow mom! She is so sharp. People like her help me to see things with a new point of view. In that moment, she helped me recognize the fact that, while growing up, I learned to accept the thoughts of people I respected as my own, but their only purpose was to undermine me.

As a matter of fact, I became used to not being appreciated for anything I did for much my life because I was told that I only did nice things and cared for others out of selfishness since it made me feel good.

The truth is the fella who came up with his theory might have a point, but my fellow mom had an even better one: still worth being appreciated!

That's one of the reasons I choose to surround myself with people who are capable of respect and appreciation. Those are the people who should matter most in our lives. By the way, check out these beautiful flowers one of my friends gave me when he came over to celebrate Friendsgiving. Pretty nice, huh?! Someone else got me a cake as well, but I didn't have time to take a picture before devouring it.

However, this wasn't the first time I got flowers this month. I also got some from my husband as a way to thank me for all the care I gave him and our daughter when they had the flu a couple of weeks ago.

I just love the simple things in life. They make me smile . . .

After all, who doesn't enjoy feeling appreciated?!