I wish to acknowledge and honor the Miami, Delaware, Potawatomi, and Shawnee people, on whose ancestral homelands and resources Indiana University was built.

Thanksgiving will be different this year for sure. I had to make the difficult call to my dad last week telling him that we won’t see our Alabama family this year for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

There were some tears.

There have been a lot of tears that likely you, my alumni family, are experiencing too. Tears related to loved ones who have died due to this awful virus, tears about missing weddings or birthdays, and for so many other reasons. Yet today I’m digging deep into my Hoosier Style (I’m a Hoosier now?) and will be optimistic for health, love, and prosperity as we end 2020 and move thankfully into 2021.

So what am I thankful for?

My Indiana University education –not just the formal degree, but what I learned while studying and so much that I gained since leaving the stage and classroom. I can’t even quantify it.

I am also thankful for my Indiana University family: you coworkers and volunteers who provide your time, expertise, advice, candor, and when we don’t want it but most assuredly need it – your criticism. I’m thankful that you welcome my husband Jim and me into your lives. Thank you.

My prayer this Thanksgiving is that I become a better ancestor to the land and people that come after me. I also pray that I learn to welcome my current IU family in better, more inclusive ways and that I spread the IUAA belonging blanket farther than ever.

This Thanksgiving will be different, and I hope it is for you too.