All You Can Eat

 Day Twelve - Thirty Days of Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims left a populated area with shops and taverns and every amenity of that time and place. They arrived at the beginning of winter in a wilderness with no value added resources available, in other words no shops, no vendors or hawkers, in fact, no people except a few indigenous natives. I can hardly imagine what that must have been like. 

Pioneers from then on, in what became the United States, trekked into the wilderness, built homes, planted crops (often in the opposite order), and towns eventually grew up around them. But there was always movement westward to uninhabited areas and then hacking a life out of the new wilderness.

Today I went to two grocery stores, passing by dozens of restaurants, as well as other grocery stores. There is no want of food here. I can get just about anything I desire, many things shipped in from distant places. If I don't feel like cooking I can step into a restaurant and sit down to a nice meal cooked by someone else, and clean up by someone else. If I'm in a hurry I can order for pick-up, or even delivery. 

I feel so blessed to live in a time of such abundance. I'm thankful for all the farmers, ranchers, producers, pickers, processors, truckers, stockers, clerks and courtesy helpers; all working diligently to bring food to my table. If I had to grow my own I know I'd starve.