Thanksgiving: Recipe for a Sweet and Sour Heart.

The year is really flying by. Thanksgiving is upon us and my head is swimming in an emotional batter of salt and sugar. Let me get the salt out so I can get to the sweet stuff.

Normally I go "home" to Dublin, Georgia for Thanksgiving. I always look forward to eating with family and spending time with loved ones I simply don't get to see very often. I'm right in the middle of remodeling our kitchen. It's a Christmas gift my wife and I are giving each other. We want it done by Christmas and I have a lot to do. For that reason, I won't be making my yearly trek to Dublin for turkey. It saddens me on many levels but particularly because my family needs me there and in many ways I need them as well. Last Thanksgiving night 2008, my father was admitted to the hospital from which he would not return as he ended his battle with lung cancer. In some ways I feel relief that I don't have to face that but for the most part I feel guilt for not being there for my family in Dublin. My Mom, Sister, Step-father, Grandmother, Aunt, Cousins and more will be there with this heavy on their heart. It will be heavy on mine as well.

In addition to that I will miss out on the fellowship of hunting and/or fishing that I might have done while visiting. This will be the second year missing out on this because as my father was sick last year, there was certainly no opportunity for the things we loved to do together. I also don't look forward to back breaking labor to get the kitchen done. So there's the salt, bitter as it is.

Let us get on to the sweet stuff. Let me tell you of all I am thankful for:

• First off, although I won't be in Dublin for my family, I am thankful they will all be together and have each other. I am thankful that with today's technology, I can call them throughout the holiday and tell them I love them.
• I'm thankful that after years of suffering in a poorly designed kitchen that I have taken the steps to ending that misery.
• I am thankful that I don't have to drive in holiday traffic through Atlanta.........twice.
• I am thankful for our friends from church that are inviting us into their home for Thanksgiving dinner as our kitchen is in shambles. Cracker Barrel would have been fine but the family atmosphere is certainly welcomed this year.
• I am thankful that my parents are who they are so that I became who I am.
• I am thankful for the most awesome wife and kids a guy could have.
• I'm thankful that this miserable Georgia Bulldog season is almost over.
• I am thankful that my father is with my heavenly father.
• I am thankful that one day I will be too.

No doubt it will be a bitter sweet holiday. I really look forward to Christmas so I can see everyone. It will be all sugar for sure.