This morning, America awakes to another Thanksgiving. The 396th to be exact.

In nearly 400 years, we sure have come a long way.

Earlier this month, I took my daughters downtown to the Children’s Museum of Atlanta to explore the Magic Treehouse traveling exhibit. The exhibit features interactive play areas from three of the books in the expansive series, including the one about the first Thanksgiving. We caught this part of the exhibit during story time at the museum and found ourselves alone. This gave the girls plenty of time to gather clams from the water’s edge, roast meat over an open fire, and set the table for the first feast. We talked about how much physical labor children did back then, what they wore, and so much more. It was a tangible lesson at an impressionable age.

Watching my girls role play the first Thanksgiving, I was struck by the differences between then and now.

My daughters paraded around the exhibit in overalls and red Chuck Taylors. At one point they asked a question I didn’t know the answer to. My little one said, “Well, we can just ask Siri, Mama.” And the open fire thing? Recently, we revised their cho
re chart to include real chores, like vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom. Even that. To have a vacuum and a bathroom to clean. How far we have come.

But that being said, there are similarities between us and the first settlers on America’s shore. The Pilgrims came to this country to escape persecution, to be free to worship the way they wished. My guess is the majority of them came for their children – with the hope that they  would have that and much more. I’d like to even think that some of the women, as they started the morning fire and woke the children to start the days’ chores, dreamed of a time when their daughters would have the opportunity to be more.

Today, immigrants still come to American to escape persecution, not to mention poverty, war, and other hardships we can’t even imagine. In short, for a better life for their children. And for those of us born here, the desire is the same – that our children will have more, be more.

Later today, when you dig in to the feast before you, take a lesson from the Pilgrims. When they crossed the vast ocean in the Mayflower, they were all in it together, whatever may come. 395 years later, we’re all still in the same boat. The landscape may look a bit different, but the hope of the people remains.

Happy Thanksgiving!