My hopes for you this Thanksgiving

I hope you aren't reading this. That's silly for a writer to say, but I mean it. Because:

I hope you're asleep on a couch somewhere with a full belly and the Detroit Lions game on with the volume turned just low enough to allow you to doze off.

Or I hope you're awake on that couch, and there's two people you love but don't see as much anymore throughout the year. Maybe you're talking about the game, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, or how Nana's dressing hasn't changed since Clinton was in the White House.

I hope you've sat down as the creamed corn gets set on the table. I hope you're trying to force your mom to sit down and eat, but she keeps getting up because little Davis needs more lemonade, the next batch of rolls needs to come out of the oven, and someone has to keep Dad out of the apple pie while it's cooling.

I hope you're laughing, whether forced or genuine, at Uncle Mark's joke he's told a thousand times. Yes, you know the one, the first time he told it and said "ass" instead of "rear end" in front of grandma, she blushed but laughed anyways. Maybe you said "ass" too and got reprimanded for it. Oh well. That's Crazy Mark for you.

I hope if you’re Canadian, you can find a way to enjoy Thanksgiving in November.

If you can't be with your family, I hope someone calls you today. I hope you get past that initial feeling of not wanting to talk on the phone, through the awkward small talk, and into one of those conversations that leaves you as warm as rolls when they're put in a basket and set on the table.

I hope you have a moment where life seems right. They're annoying because they feel like they should go on forever, but you know they won't. The problems of the world beyond this table, this couch, this home are still out there. Your cousin, who's really invested in (this current political issue) will probably bring it up, and the facade will crash. And maybe it should. We've got to learn to talk about things and still enjoy being at this table together.

But I hope you hold on to that moment for a little longer. I hope that's the stuff being thankful is made of. Sure, it doesn't come in this kind of dose all of the time, but it happens more than you'd expect if you look hard enough.

Oh, and Uncle Mark wants to know if you've heard the one about a pirate's favorite letter.*

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* Aye, you think it be “Rrrrr” but the “C” be his first love.