Today is a day of thankfulness. The McMurrays celebrated our Thanksgiving together Saturday so today my youngest son and oldest brother will be eating supper with me tonight. I just cooked a pork loin and made bbq and we’ll have chips and baked beans.

I thought this Thanksgiving day of what blessings I’m most thankful for and on the top of my list is my family and my health and my friends. I think most of us take our families for granted just thinking they’ll always be around but life is short and time travels fast. Ecclesiastes 9:9-12 reads, “Enjoy every day of your short life. God has given you this short life on earth — it is all you have. So enjoy the work you have to do in this life. Every time you find work to do, do it the best you can.” Never miss an opportunity to tell your loved ones you love them. The last words my husband and my daughter heard from me were I love you and I’m so grateful for those words to their ears.

I read this column on Facebook today and I’m sure lots of y’all did but it’s worth repeating. Erma Bombeck wrote these words when she found out she was dying from complications of a kidney transplant. It’s good practical advice we all need to take note of. I loved her humor and would read her columns in The Birmingham News. One of my favorite lines of her is “The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.” That sentence describes me! Here is her newspaper column written in paragraph form.

“If I Had My Life to Live Over — I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day. I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage. I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded. I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace. I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.”

“I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband. I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed. I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. Instead of wiling away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.”

“When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, ‘Later… Now go get washed up for dinner.’ There would have been more ‘I love you’s, more ‘I’m sorry’s.’ But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute; look at it and really see it; live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF! Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what….instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us!” — Erma Bombeck

This column of Bombeck’s me think of the time my mother visited me and Chief and we were serving turnip greens from my great-grandmother Handley’s priceless gold and white china soup tureen. Mama was lecturing me the china was too fine to put turnip greens in, we shouldn’t be eating on the dinner plates, to be careful washing them…. Chief looked at her and politely said, “What’s the use of having something so beatiful if you can’t enjoy using it.” My older son wants that china and I told my daughter-in-law they could take it home on their next visit. Gonna make them promise to enjoy using it and not just on special occasions.

Enjoy your family and your beautiful blessings ever day, not just on special occasions.

“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” — Henry Ward Beecher