I don't know about you guys, but in my family, the whole family doesn't sit at the same table. Maybe it's because my family is too big and we would need a table as long as our house, but that's beside the point.

In my family, we have the "adult table" and then the "kids table". I am 23 years old and I still sit at the kids table. My brother is 31 years old, has three children, and he still sits at the kids table. Now we have the "adult table", the "we are adults but we still want to have a good time so we don't want to sit there and discuss politics with the old people, table" and the "they really are kids because they're all under 8, table".

Maybe you have the same set up, maybe there aren't even any children in your family anymore, I don't know your situation. Either way, I hope you don't have to listen to the elderly discuss politics over turkey and mashed potatoes this Thanksgiving.

It doesn't matter how the seating assignments are arranged, you know when the room feels a little less full. When I was 11, my family lost my mother. This Thanksgiving, it will be the 12th Thanksgiving without my mom.

If you've ever lost a loved one, you know what this feels like. At first, all you can notice is the emptiness where they are supposed to be. Over time, it starts to go unnoticed.

That space gets filled with other things. Things like lots of laughter, funny stories being told, or new family members being added on either from marriage or by birth. Over time, you let anything fill the space because it's just what you have to do to move on.

Eventually, you don't notice the space that is being filled with other things. The other things become normal and then everything is normal, or at least your new normal.

But it's big family events. Events like Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year. That's when you really notice and you really remember. And not even necessarily like you're lacking something. Because life goes on and so do you and your life becomes so very full.

And it's full of great things. Since my mom passed my brother has gotten married and had three amazing children. A niece of hers has gotten married and had a beautiful child. Another niece has just gotten engaged. I've graduated high school and will be the first of my family to graduate college coming December.

Our lives are so full that when we step back and think, it hurts a little. And not because it's full of bad things or unwelcomed things, but because you just want to share them with your loved one.

People will tell you that they're always with you, and that they see everything you're doing. And sure, that's probably correct. But it doesn't replace the feeling of wanting them there in that exact moment.

I want my mom to hold her grandchildren. And her great nephew. I want her to see me walk across the stage at graduation.

I want her to be at Thanksgiving, at Christmas, throwing a party on New Year's. I don't want a space that's filled with laughter or funny stories, I want a space filled with her.

We all want that space to be filled with our loved one. That never changes.

What does change is the way you hold your family a little tighter, or the way that your family comes together to make everyone feel more loved, more appreciated and more cared for the way my family has done for me.

This Thanksgiving, notice that empty space that's been filled with other things. Remember what once filled it. Rejoice in the life that was, but more importantly, rejoice in what fills it now.

I'm so lucky that I have the family that I do. We fill not only spaces, but our hearts (and our plates) with love that could span to the moon and back.

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for all of the spaces at our table, whether it's the kids table or the adult table, and I'm thankful for everything that fills it.

I hope you can find thanks in all of that too.