I truly hope you’re not too tied down to your laptop, tablet, smartphone, email or social media accounts to really enjoy the fun, food, festivities and family that this holiday has come to embody. If you compare the items in the first list with those in the second, I think anyone would tell you the latter list is exponentially more attractive. While our jobs (and even our social lives, to some extent) have become reliant on these forms of communication, I hope you take this holiday weekend to spend time with those you actually say you’re thankful for.

While it’s always nice to hear you’re appreciated, that thanks goes a lot farther when it’s put into action. When a client says it was a pleasure working with you and they’re grateful you were able to handle that last-minute hiccup with the paperwork, that’s great. When you get an unexpected email from a potential borrower who says their neighbor insisted they had to use you because you’re just the best and so easy to work with, now you feel the appreciation.

Family works the same way. We’ve all become so ingrained to holding a dimly lit screen up to our faces the moment we lack any additional form of stimuli that we may not notice the excited face of our son, who wants to play football. Or our niece, who wants to tell us how she helped mash the potatoes. Or the dewy look in our mother’s eyes as she’s just so happy and – get ready…thankful – that her whole family is under one roof.

We all have a lot to be thankful for. Our fulfilling careers and wonderful family at Finance of America are two of those things, but I bet they’re competing with many, many other blessings. Let this Thanksgiving and this weekend be about what truly matters. Eat that turkey, throw that football, hang those lights and read that story, because as Kurt Vonnegut reminds us, we need to “enjoy the little things in life because one day you`ll look back and realize they were the big things.”

Happy Thanksgiving to all!