By Chelsea Hutt, Contributing Writer
OSWEGO, NY – A long-time tradition at almost every Thanksgiving is to go around the table and say what everyone is thankful for this year.
A popular answer this year is to be thankful their family and those around us on this joyful holiday.
Of course, this is a favorite and a truthful response of most people on Thanksgiving.
However, a few people had some interesting answers when it came to this question.
First, the traditional replies: family in general was an answer on everyone’s list; whether it was for their health, safety, well being or good luck for the next year.
A few mentioned God. One Oneida resident said she was thankful that “God was watching over her family and giving all of them the strength to get through their troubles.”
Several others, when asked what they would say at the Thanksgiving table, replied they would be thankful for the meal (or as some put it, “great food”) and that they are fortunate to have enough to eat.
A few younger women were all in agreement that they were thankful for “good friends to laugh with, family, and good opportunities to come.”
One man was surprisingly open with the information he was willing to give. He confessed he was most thankful for the woman with whom he fell in love.
Meeting her was a “stroke-of-luck kind of moment”, as he called it.
They were at a coffee shop and his gut told him to ask her on a date, he said.
He was shopping for an engagement ring, planning to propose to her after three years.
In general, if the word ‘family’ wasn’t mentioned, people specifically named off people in their immediate and extended family for whom they were thankful.
Numerous people said sisters, brothers, cousins, grandparents; one woman mentioned her rescued animals (two young pitbulls).
While thankful for having others that care about them, some shared why they chose a specific person.
“My mom helped me become what I am today,” said Lynae Stevens from Fayetteville. “Without her helping me with my struggles, I don’t know where I would be.”
She added that her daughter, who was born March of this year, topped her list.
Nearly 75 percent of the people surveyed, not including those that said the all encompassing word ‘family,’ were thankful for their mothers and what they have done for them.
As Annie Watts from North Syracuse put it when she viewed the survey results, “I see family is what is mostly on people’s minds. Good, it’s a day for families to get together and share each other’s company. That is how should it should be on this holiday.”
