The airlines and I have more than millions of miles in common at Thanksgiving.  The airlines are grateful, because the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year.  And I’m grateful to be with family and friends this week.

The Thanksgiving season always makes me sentimental.  As a communication coach, I urge you to visit, call, email, text, or write (a letter—remember those?) special people in your life to express what they mean to you.

Here’s a letter I wrote to my parents a couple of decades ago, first published in Ray Boltz’s Thank You:  Moments of Gratitude From the Heart (Harper Collins/Thomas Nelson):

Thank you for knowing when to say “no” despite my childish anger and when to say “yes” despite my teenage reluctance.

Thank you for the lessons of hard work, honesty, friendship, forgiveness, community, courage, conviction, and contribution.

Thank you for loving me, my spouse, my children, and my friends.

Thank you for staying just close enough to hear me call when I needed you and far enough away to let me try my wings.

Thank you for asking about my day, my job, and my life—and for not offering unsolicited advice, pronouncements, guilt, or obligations.

Thank you for always being there through sickness, disappointments, confusion, and dreams.

Thank you for modeling commitment, service, and gratitude in your walk with God.

Thank you for the memories of childhood, the guidance of my teen years, the freedom of adulthood, a model for grand-parenting, the grace of God, and serenity in aging.

All my love,

Dianna

The words don’t have to be perfect. The act of communicating and the time involved matter most.

And to you readers, my heartfelt gratitude this season!

Dianna Booher

Dianna Booher is the bestselling author of more than 46 books, published in 26 languages, with nearly 4 million copies sold. Her personal development topics include communication, leadership, personal presence, productivity, life balance, and faith. Her latest books include Creating Personal Presence: Look, Talk, Think, and Act Like a Leader and Communicate With Confidence, Revised and Expanded Edition. National media such as Good Morning America, USAToday, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, Forbes.com, CNN International, NPR, Success, and Entrepreneur have interviewed her for opinions on critical workplace communication issues. She is the founder of Booher Consultants, an international communication training company and more recently Booher Research. Clients include IBM, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, BP, Chevron, Pepsico, Frito Lay, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, JP Morgan Chase, American Airlines, and Department of the Navy. www.BooherResearch.com