Thankful for the friends made at the senior center

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Holidays, holidays, holidays! I look forward to this time of year and spending time with family and friends. Any reason to get together with those I care about is fine with me. One such holiday is Thanksgiving. It is a wonderful day full of turkey, noodles, sweet potato casseroles, green beans, dressing, salad, deviled eggs and let us not forget the all-important pumpkin pie. I like mine with about half a tub of Cool Whip please. Having my family around one big table, watching them laugh and enjoy each other warms my soul. This year will be especially fun because of our grandson who will be nine months old.

Fall weather can be beautiful! I love the many different colors as the leaves change, although raking them isn’t fun. Leaves get caught in the gutters, stick to my car if it is parked outside during a rainstorm and also make driving a little rough if the pavement is wet. Sometimes I wonder if the beauty of the leaves is worth the hassle…but then I look out and I smile at how pretty the trees look. I guess they are worth it.

When I was younger this time of year was spent getting ready for the winter weather. We would “batten down the hatches” in the barn. Making sure all the windows were covered, doors had no big cracks and that we had enough hay and grain for the winter. Growing up in an old farmhouse also meant we would winterize it by putting up plastic on the inside of the windows, set straw bales around the foundation and close off the rooms we weren’t using in order to save on the heat bill. The blizzard of 1978 was the year we moved all our beds downstairs, closed off the upstairs and basically lived in three rooms until the roads were cleared and the electric came back on. To an 8 year old child it was a great adventure!

I am thankful for many things this year both personally and professionally. This year those two categories have blended together thanks to the wonderful members and co-workers I have at the Senior Center of Sidney-Shelby County. I have watched so many volunteer to help us with all the special events we had for our 25th anniversary year. I dare to say that many of our members I now count as my friends and am blessed to have formed some very strong bonds.

There are many things that we can be thankful for and many ways we can be a blessing to those we meet each day. The spirit of Thanksgiving is something we should try to carry with us all year long. I witness this spirit of Thanksgiving each day at the senior center. Life is busy for most all of us and sometimes families are strung all over the country with not much opportunity to spend time with each other. The senior center has become a family for many in the community. It is a place to make new friends, get together with them and enjoy each other’s company.

Stop down sometime for your two free visits to see all the things we have going on and all the different opportunities to be blessed and to be a blessing to others.

I hope you have a wonderfully blessed and happy Thankgiving and don’t forget the Cool Whip!

Until I see you at the Center, have a blessed day!

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By Rachel Hale

The writer is the executive director of the Senior Center of Sidney and Shelby County.

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