What a tremendous Thanksgiving we just had — a house full of amazing people, beautiful food, and lots of laughter. Really couldn’t have asked for more. I mean it.

Lucky. That’s how I feel, because every year at this time I think about James Kim and his family, who took a Thankgiving trek to the Pacific Northwest that ended tragically. I wasn’t close to James (we were aquaintances at a former company) but like so many others, I was deeply moved by the Kims’ experience.

After James’ death, I swore I would always pack my vehicles with all manner of emergency equipment and look into fancy gadgets that would allow for easy tracking of the family. Guess what? Two years later, I don’t have as much as a single flare in any car we drive.

But I have spent plenty of time beating myself up for it. Late night thoughts creeping in about how I need to get it together. Another Thanksgiving coming and going without properly equiping the cars. Sigh.

This year, I have a new take on things. No, we didn’t pack the car with supplies necessary for extra-ordinary survival circumstances, but we did make some fairly dramatic lifestyle changes in the last two years to enable us to spend more time together as a family. I will eventually get a flare or two, but in the meantime, I just want to say thank you to James Kim for reminding me of what’s important.