Thanksgiving

When I ask most folks, Thanksgiving is the most common answer to the Favorite Holiday question. Occasionally, I'll get a 'Halloween' or an 'Arbor Day;' rarely do I get 'Christmas.' It's like the Flight or Invisibility question - we get a glimpse at the hearts of others with a simple query. I'm not sure if their answers show the person they are or the person they want to be.

For me, when I answer 'Thanksgiving,' it's both.

To be thankful I must look out. Sometimes, it's a natural, instinctual movement for me; other times, it can be a bit more difficult. For the past two months, thankfulness has been my theme. Like my faith, that theme has less to do with my choice and more to do with some inescapable pull into Mystery.

While my hope is to become a person who gives thanks in all things, I appreciate this day of focused, socially accepted gratitude. I am thankful...

• for the inordinate amount of food cooking in our kitchen, for the healthy family who will help us eat it, and for the consistent electricity, running water and technological marvels that will make cleaning up a breeze. 
• for a wife that has loved me, in spite of me, more every day for 8 years. She has changed me, and I am better for it.
• for streets free of landmines, a government that lets me say what I will about it, neighbors who let me borrow what I need and the ability to walk outside without certain catastrophe. 
• for a son who is developing his own personality with panache and grace, and who informs every decision I make.
• For friends who abandon plans to pay for a local Turkey Trot, donate the money to the food bank instead, and chart a 5k course of their own to establish a new tradition.

 

Dave, Ann Lee and the rest of the motley crew post-trotting

The local 'sponsored' Turkey Trot, which we drove by on our way home. Needless to say, we did not have police escort.

Nicole's t-shirt logo, ironed on and ready to roll.

I am thankful.

s.