Fred Posner

For the last 16 years, I’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving at my parent’s house in beautiful South Florida. Surrounded by family, the festive meal places family on the porch of the house, seated around an incredibly long table, with more food than one should eat in a single sitting.

For a few of those years, when I lived in South Florida, it was a quick drive from my place to the dinner table. Most of the years, it involves a drive down from Gainesville. Some years included a trek down from Michigan (snow and all). Read more

Each year, I make a Thanksgiving pilgrimage to my parent’s home in South Florida. Since I can remember, Thanksgiving has been the Holiday for my family — and when I say family, I mean the entire family. Cousins, friends, aunts, everything. My family.

I’ve been very lucky in life and have a lot to be grateful for; one of which is the continuing of this amazing tradition.

Some years, the trip seems too short. It rarely feels too long. This year, Yeni and I were able to take a few days off from the bakery and head down to South Florida for a few extra days.

I start thinking about my thanksgiving message around October… mostly just a mental outline of what I want to say. Pointless really. Every year when I sit to write the message, my mental outlines are thrown away.  Read more

I’ve been writing these Thanksgiving messages every year for more than 10 years. I’ve written them when I was thin and in shape, fat and out of shape, married, single, living with Forrest, mourning his loss, and well– a lot of things have changed in the last 10+ years.

I’ve written about the history of Thanksgiving, about losing friends, losing family, gaining family, gaining friends, and more.  Read more