Grandma J's Thanksgiving Devotional

I really missed my grandma this year on Thanksgiving - I have a lot of wonderful memories of holidays in Brigham City and realized yesterday this would be the first without her. I my be a little weird in my family, because although she's been ill for a while and these traditions haven't been the same for years, for some reason now she's gone they're all being unearthed and although a lot of you are past this, I still mourn a little over each little turkey-decorated nut cup and each turn around the table with the obligatory "I'm thankful for" statement. Anyway, as I was flipping through the old family newsletters last night, one letter in particular touched me and made me cry at this tender time of year, so here it is, at high risk of my becoming a blubbering idiot right here on the couch as I type, from November 1986:

"Dear ones,
How are you all? Today, I am missing you all so much. I don't know why exactly, except that life just seems so hectic and flys by before I really can accomplish any of the thoughtful little things I would like to do for you -- that come into my head and heart during the middle of the night. And because I don't find the time to do them, you will never know what they are, or how much of my time you are all in my thoughts. I love you all so much and am so proud of you, and just wish there was more I could do to help you over your rough times. If the Lord answers all my uttered and unuttered prayers for you, you will never be in too bad a shape."

She goes on to share a beautiful testimony of gratitude and her testimony of the Book of Mormon. Although I was young in 1986, and was likely not the main beneficiary of those thoughts and prayers crafted so carefully in times of trial, her words are like a voice from the dust to me and I feel they're timelessly applicable and as true today as they were then. I love her and miss her so much, and am certain she (and many others who have gone before) is near at this favored time of year, if not with her presence, with her heart - and like always, with her prayers for us. Her direct line. :-)