The Thanksgiving Thank-You I Never Got to Give — And Still Carry With Me**
**Plateau Hame de Colquhoun • Ka-Hoon Campground & Event Center • Colquhoun Entertainment**
Thanksgiving is the season for giving thanks… but sometimes the things we’re most thankful for are also the ones we look back on with a little regret.
This week, as I walked across the quiet desert at **Ka-Hoon Campground and Event Center**, something heavy but heartfelt came to mind — a thank-you I never got to give.
When I was a young, naïve 21-year-old in college in Arkansas, I met someone who changed my world for a little while.
His name was **Billy**.
Billy quickly became my best friend.
We watched movies, hung out between classes, took spontaneous adventures — even spent Spring Break exploring Mississippi together. He was kind, funny, patient, and one of the first people who made me feel truly understood.
But I was young. And honestly? I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
Billy had told me he cared about me, but I didn’t recognize the hints. I saw him as my best friend — nothing more, nothing less. My parents warned me, “You can’t change him,” and I didn’t understand, because I loved him exactly as he was. I wasn’t trying to change anything. I just didn’t understand the depth of what he felt for me at the time.
Eventually, life moved on. I met someone, got married, and that’s when Billy told me he couldn’t stay in my life anymore.
He said it felt *awkward*.
I didn’t understand then why my best friend couldn’t stay my best friend.
But years later — after growing up, after life knocked me around a bit, after I learned how complicated hearts can be — I finally understood. And that realization stayed with me.
I’ve tried searching for him over the years, off and on, but without remembering his last name, it’s been next to impossible.
So this Thanksgiving, I’m putting this out into the world:
**Billy, if you’re out there, I’m sorry.**
I truly had no idea what you were trying to tell me back then.
I treasure the friendship we had, and I hope your life turned out full of the happiness you deserved.
And if you ever read this — I’d still love to reconnect, even just to say thank you.
Sometimes the people who help shape us never get to hear the impact they left behind.
This year, that’s my Thanksgiving reflection — gratitude for someone from long ago, and a hope that maybe this message finds its way home.
http://www.plateauhamedecolquhoun.com
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