Like so many of you, my desire each day is to live my life in a thankful frame of mind. I’m thankful for my family and friends and my health and my faith. I’m also thankful for all of you who have helped our business grow this year and in years past. This week—this Thanksgiving week—seems like the perfect time to tell you that.
Actually, I’d like to do more than just say it.
In keeping with my authentic approach to work and life, I want to give all our Point subscribers a free copy of my latest book, Lessons Learned From 20 Years of Coaching. It’s my way of being authentic and showing my deep appreciation to you for letting me into your lives each week with my Points. Just send your name and mailing address to Briana at Briana@corsini.com and we’ll take care of the rest. While I appreciate you every day all year long, this free book offer is for this week only! So hurry, and let us know if you’d like yours.
Now, for today’s Point. We got such a strong response from this Thanksgiving Point from a few years back, that I thought I’d share it again.
We all know that family comes in a lot of shapes and sizes—I’m talking about immediate and extended, inherited and created and sometimes quite surprising. That brings me to a defining moment my own family experienced one Thanksgiving Day several years ago.
Susan and I moved to our neighborhood in the mid-1990s shortly after we married. Right away, I noticed an unusual old man who took his daily walks along our street. Summer or winter, he always wore a World War II leather fighter jacket. He leaned sideways when he walked, and I was constantly afraid he would fall and break a hip. He was peculiar and odd, and he reminded me of the character “Boo” in To Kill a Mockingbird. About once a month, he’d permanently “borrow” the morning newspaper from our driveway. He’d come over regularly and ask me to change out the light bulbs in his house. (I was happy to do this, but I’ll admit I was a little nervous the first time I went into his haunted-looking house.)
One Thanksgiving Day, just as my family was about to sit down to lunch with our adopted neighbor, “Grandma Liz,” the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find “Ol’ Man Johnson” (not his real name) standing there. He asked to come in and eat Thanksgiving lunch with us. As soon as he entered the dining room, he demanded that we remove our dog from the room. He even complained to Susan about the food.
To say we were surprised is an understatement! But we told him firmly that the dog would stay—and stay away from him. We let the food comments go, and he left right after lunch.
Later, as we talked about our strange afternoon, we began to see “Ol’ Man Johnson” in a new way. Until then, he was something of a curiosity and, sometimes, a nuisance. (One night I rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital when he had a medical emergency and they couldn’t locate a family member. Let me tell you, it was no picnic.)
But that Thanksgiving, after sharing our meal with him, we changed how we felt about the old man.
We looked beyond his cranky, strange demeanor and simply saw a person who wanted to spend time with others on Thanksgiving—even if it meant showing up unannounced and uninvited. This man had needs, but he had nobody to meet those needs. Like all of us, he just wanted a friend; he wanted to belong. I must add that two days after this first Thanksgiving, we received a lovely, handwritten note from him thanking us for sharing our day with him. He had beautiful penmanship that was almost calligraphy-like in its perfection. Who would have thought?
So every year after that, we invited him to our holiday feast. He became part of our Thanksgiving tradition. He became part of our family.
Today, I invite you to look around; chances are, you know an “Ol’ Man Johnson” who needs to be loved—even if he isn’t easy to love. I encourage you to reach out to that person in some way.
Extend your idea of family this Thanksgiving. You’ll be thankful you did.
Corsini’s Point: Use this Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to reach out to those who, for whatever reason, might not have family to celebrate this special day. Open your lives and your hearts and create a family.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! We wish each and every one of you a healthy, happy and Spirit-filled holiday.
QUOTE
“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.”
— W.J. Cameron