I’d like to welcome my guest contributor and a WWII enthusiast friend, Gail Kittleson. I think you’ll enjoy her memories of Thanksgiving.  Open in your browser and scroll to the bottom to leave a comment. I’d love to hear about your own Thanksgiving memories!

A Full Table, an Empty Chair

by Gail Kittleson

Last Thanksgiving, we gathered with friends whose family also lived far away. As usual, we ate more than enough—wonderful dishes created by a woman who truly loves to cook. The meal made me think of Mom, who year after year, peeled hundreds of gallons of potatoes, baked turkeys and hams and pies galore, and whipped up desserts to her heart’s content.  Ah…all those feasts she provided, pretty much single-handedly. We all brought something, of course, but nothing compares to the woman who rises before dawn to stuff the turkey and get this year’s dinner underway. 

The aroma of baking turkey in a big blue and white enamel roaster soon reminded everyone what lay ahead. A couple of hours later, scalloped corn, with everyday cracker crumbs, butter, and milk, joined in. Boiled potatoes became buttered and properly mashed. And the pies…well, until dessert time, they took a back seat.

On such days, the past melds with the present. We recall those separated from us by space and time. Those gone before, and equally painful, those who may have chosen emotional distance. We hold them close in our hearts—nothing can alter the intrinsic love of family. During World War II, these emotions swelled even more. Imagine setting an empty place for your seventeen-year old son, gone off to the Pacific theater. Tears blind you as you recall him begging you to “sign for him,” since he was a year too young for the draft. All his friends were going…Mom’s signature would be patriotic. 

Now, you cherish simple tagboard postcards that bear his handwriting, but very few real details. You must entrust him to the unpredictable fates of war. In the meantime, you treasure your memories and pray with all your heart that one day, your child will return. My mother, still in high school at the time, prayed for two older brothers gone to war. How many more years would it be? How much longer must they all wait? 

Women all over the nation ladled perfectly smooth gravy over rich dressing and thick turkey slices on Thanksgiving Day. They cut a piece of raspberry pie and recalled how their missing family member loved it. And they waited. Thanks, Mom.

Kin, the WW II mom in Sunshine Alley, my latest novel, takes readers back to another time with different challenges than we have today. May her story honor women of the Greatest Generation like my mother and deepen readers’ love of history as well as their gratitude. 

Sunshine Alley is a sweeping, multi-generational saga set against the historical backdrop of rural Texas, the American homefront, and the fractured battlefields of the War in the Pacific.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967649375?tag=wordcraftspre-20

Gail’s Bio:

Gail Kittleson became addicted to the WWII era after writing a memoir and teaching college expository writing. She loves creating the stories of characters who show up in her mind and is always overwhelmed by the Greatest Generation’s courage, tenacity and united spirit. The daughter of a WWII veteran, she grew up on an Iowa farm and fell in love with reading from the start. You can count on Gail’s heroines and heroes to make-do with what life hands them and grow in faith, love of country, and understanding themselves and others. 

Gail and her husband, a retired military chaplain, live in Pine, Arizona under the Mogollon Rim. Gail enjoys giving book talks and facilitating workshops/women’s retreats on memoir and spiritual writing, fiction topics, and creativity. Find more at www.gailkittleson.com and www.facebook.com/gail.kittleson