Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for Thanksgiving, a holiday begun by our first president and codified by our sixteenth. I particularly like it because it has largely escaped commercialization and is likely to remain free of that financial frenzy that has unfortunately become Christmas. May it always remain so. Likely it will---only so much turkey and stuffin will fit on a plate.

Yes, may we be grateful. May we be grateful for even the everyday things. The flurry of snow that comes down in the night and makes magic the morning windows when we get up. The cranberry sauce a friend makes you along with all the fixings, but especially the cranberry sauce that has wedges of oranges within what is like a crimson creme with a dash (my friend tells me) of a vanilla liqueur. Gratitude for the day itself spent with other friends and the traditional feast and delicious talk. Gratitude for the simple things. What would we do if we couldn't walk in a wood? What would we do if we couldn't wade out into the ocean and stretch our eyes with distance? A bicycle ride on a forest path? Being able to hear? Hearing and watching the birds in the arborvitae as they come for the black seed? Watching your cat stretch as he wakes at the foot of the bed? Making a new acquaintance of a pure black shepherd border collie mix named Gunner? Yes, what would we do? And the truly amazing thing: there will be even more things tomorrow