12 Servings of Gratitude On Thanksgiving

It was a crisp New England day and our guests were set to arrive in 90 minutes. All systems were go. The turkey was golden brown and resting nicely as instructed by our son the rising star chef. A bountiful harvest of vegetables and side dishes were warming on the buffet in chafing dishes. The table was set beautifully with our favorite tablecloth and flowers, just right. The carefully selected playlist was queued up and ready to go.

I turned up the volume on the tunes and began to turn my attention to the toast, gathering a pen and pad to transfer thoughts to paper. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with the need to perfectly communicate the gratitude and love I could feel welling up inside. These feelings were swirling for days and now they were upon me. We would all be together very soon: The love of my life, our adult children and their new young families. At that moment, I became present to life speeding by. At moment like this, it’s plain to see that these really are the good old days.

Just then, the James Taylor song began to play — “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. The secret of love is in opening up your heart.” And just then, I was pierced with the idea.

The welcome toast was not “it”. How could I express my uniquely meaningful thoughts and feelings in a single, generic toast? It was simply not possible. I then felt an urgency to communicate what was in my heart to each person individually — especially in light of my recent health scare.

(BTW, thank goodness I can put that one behind me! There’s nothing like a health scare to unfurl one’s gratitude. Having ruled out a serious illness, I had a new lease on life . Talk about giving thanks!)

To express myself on special occasions, I usually purchase a greeting card at the store. But of course, the stores were closed — and I needed a last minute solution. And not just that, I needed 12 of them!

Just then I remembered! I could login to my eGifter.com account. There I could select, print and hand deliver 12 beautiful greeting cards and gift items. With each greeting card wrapped around a card that would speak to each person’s preferences and pleasures, I could acknowledge each of my ‘special someones’ with a tailored message and handpicked item to express my heartfelt sentiment. Adding extra touch of love for each person individually felt right — I knew I was onto something.

And I was right. With eGifter, it took just moments to select a retail brand I knew each person would enjoy. I entered my special love notes and chose photos that were readily accessible and easy to browse and upload. I sped through checkout.

With plenty of time to spare, I printed twelve gift cards. They were folded neatly and adorned the table perfectly at each person’s place setting.

Soon all the guests arrived. Before I ever had a chance to raise my glass for the toast, everyone had already opened and read their hand delivered eGifter gift card. My abundance of love had now been shared. I know that to keep it, you have to give it away.

And there was not a dry eye in the house. It was a Thanksgiving Day for the ages.