Thanksgiving is a national holiday and mostly associated with Macy’s Parade, NFL football and family dinners.

The modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition has roots going back 400 years with a 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts.

The Mayflower transported English families, known as the Pilgrims, from Rotherhithe on the River Thames, London in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, the Mayflower, with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached America.

Arriving in November, unprepared, they had to survive through a harsh winter. As a result, only half of the original Pilgrims survived the first winter at Plymouth. Without the help of local Indigenous peoples to teach them food gathering and other survival skills, all of the colonists might have perished.

The following year,1621, they celebrated the colony's first fall harvest along with the Indigenous people, an occasion declared centuries later the first American Thanksgiving.

As it’s an annual event we have a tendency to only give thanks once a year. Sir John Marks Templeton, investor and philanthropist, stated “Thanksgiving is a creative force that, if lived on a continuous basis and not just one day each year, will create more good in your life and more to be thankful for.”

He suggests “Perhaps we could call this the life of "Thanks Living". Thanksliving is an attitude of perpetual gratitude that will draw more good to you.” Something to ponder.

Today, 400 years after the first Thanksgiving, we have far more to be grateful. A simple example is that we do not have to grow our own food. We just jump in our car and purchase everything we need for family dinner at the local grocery store. Or using a smart phone app place an order that will be delivered to your front door.

All of us at Nevada Health Specialists would like to wish our families, friends and clients (many have become friends) a Happy Thanksgiving, we are grateful for each and every one of you.