Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!
I hope everyone gets to celebrate with family and friends!
I have about 31 minutes before I start to prepare for our first Thanksgiving meal, this year to be done on both Wednesday AND Thanksgiving. I figure if people can post Christmas stuff before Halloween, I can be a day early with my Thanksgiving tradition!
This year, just yesterday, the baking element of our stove shorted out, going out like a fourth of July sparkler. So no Thanksgiving baking - at least at home - the part won't be in until after Thanksgiving. . I am grateful to nearby family that have stepped up and will let us use their ovens!
So that's how much time I have to do my version of the 31 days of Thankfulness I see so many of my friends doing on the Facebook machine.
So here goes!
1) I am thankful for Alison and Benjamin. We have a wonderful family, and it so comforting to be loved and supported. Benjamin is very smart, polite, and a great young thespian, a member of the Art Club. participant in local gaming groups, and he is now a junior in high school Alison is beautiful and patient, practical and loving. She won the award for the State's best Nutrition Staff Person.
2) I am thankful for my two older boys, Douglas and Gregory. Douglas is an environmental scientist in Atlanta. Gregory is living the family dream, working in Hollywood in the movie industry. I couldn't be prouder of both of them. I am grateful that Doug has found a wonderful girlfriend, Paige, and will both be visiting us starting Thanksgiving Day! I am grateful that both my older boys have taken so much to Benjamin, and have been great mentors and friends to him.
3) I am thankful for my loving parents. My mother, who passed in October 2008, taught me the power of unconditional love. My father, who passed in September 2013, taught me more about responsibility and hard work, and about the true meaning of Christianity, than anyone else I've ever known. I think of them often and miss them terribly. I am grateful for the love and memories they have given me.
4) I am thankful I have a loving, caring sister. Carol and her family have always been supportive and kind to me. She did so much for my father, I am so grateful. I am excited that she is now a Grandmother, with three (count 'em - three!) grandchildren. Carol and Mike now live in the Grand Rapids area, and live closer to her daughter and grand-daughters, Bailey and Morgan. And now her son and daughter-in-law in Chicago, also have a son! I see lots of visits to Chicago in their future!
5) I am thankful for my church family. Grace Episcopal has been very important in the spiritual and social life of our family, and I am appreciative of the connections we have made and all the support and Christian fellowship they have given us. I am thankful for everything that Rev. Kit Brinson has brought to our church, and it has been a joy to watch it grow, diversify, and become the hands and feet of Christ in our local community. We have had a number of painful losses in the last year, but I am grateful the church has been there to help one another. I am grateful for the church's Griefshare program that has helped so many.
6) I am thankful for my work. I'm not going to pretend that accounting is something I love to do. But my employers and co-workers have made it to be as pleasant an experience as it can be. And I love that I am now "60% retired"! working only about 15 to 18 hours a week. It has helped give me the space to write more, and help me where I have finished two novels, History of the Trap and Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge, and the short novella, My Europa. I have over a half million words on my blog, The Strait Line, and a newspaper column running in four papers. History of the Trap is now in Kindle and paperback form. Sales have not been sensational, but those who read it seem to love it, and want to now where the next book in the series is, and that's the highest compliment I can get. I have started the second book, and hope to have it ready by Summer.
7) I am thankful that I have the ability to act, at least well enough to participate in community theatre. Getting onstage and feeling the response of the audience has been one of the great pleasures of my life. I am delighted that I have been able to participate in The Odd Couple, acting with my son, Benjamin, where we played ...brothers!!! He is a great actor, and it was pure joy being onstage with him. I also got to do a play, The Model Apartment, with two of my very favorites, the very talented Emily Beck, my favorite stage daughter, and alongside my very good friend and frequent stage wife, Julianna Lacefield.
8) I am thankful to the Jeffords for all that have done to make the Flying Dragons Art Center such an important part of our area. It has given so many of our young people a fine and confident start.
9) I am thankful for the Writers Guild and the Okefenokee Heritage Center. It has been a great joy to help form and support a group dedicated to the arts, and help local writers connect. The fourth Okefenokee Writing Contest was a great success, and I am thankful to all who helped make it so. I am thankful for the support of Elizabeth Welch, who has done so much to manage, promote and grow the Guild, and is also the high-powered and energetic Executive Director of the Okefenokee Heritage Center. I am particularly grateful to Steve Bean, my friend and former Director of the OHC, and whose spirit I see so alive in Elizabeth. I mourn his passing, but I am grateful that he touched my and my family's lives. and that he was an integral part of Grace Episcopal. Everyone who knew him are so much better for having known him, and his spirit will live on with everyone he touched.
10) I am thankful that I have taken the time to develop this blog, The Strait Line. It is named after a school newsletter my father had as school principal, and whether it is good or bad, it has been a tremendous joy to me to get back in the habit of writing. I have made over a sixteen hundred blog entries, and my blog traffic has now achieved total page views exceeding a quarter million.
11) I am thankful that Barack Obama was a successful President of the United States for eight wonderful years. . The fact that the Presidency has been taken over by such a racist misogynist con man buffoon saddens me to no end, and makes it difficult to sleep at night. Nevertheless, I am grateful to have had such an intelligent and caring President for the eight years, and I miss more than you can imagine. Now I am simply grateful every morning I wake up, and that foul creature occupying the White House, has not put an end to life on Earth. It makes you realize how precious every day is.
12) I am thankful that Obamacare has survived it's challenges and even though I fear for it's future, I still believe it can provide the stepping stone to greater things. It is a vital step forward to universal health care and towards a more equitable, fiscally sound, and morally decent system. If the Republicans are foolish enough to repeal Obamacare, then all it will do is galvanize the public to bring about Medicare For All that much quicker. Right now, after failing repeatedly to repeal it even though they are in the majority, they continue their efforts to sabotage and undermine it. I pray that people will see through this charade, and move us back on the path towards the only morally and fiscally responsible healthcare system, single payer, best implemented in the USA as Medicare For All.
13) I am thankful that virtually all countries, and many corporations, states, and local governments recognize the gravest threat facing our planet, climate change/global warming , will finally start to be addressed. Not by America anymore, however. This is one of the darkest things we face, this continued climate change denial that grips so many, but I pray that we wake up soon and change.
14) I am thankful that even though the progressive agenda may not be moving as fast as I want, at least the promise of a better future holds. I am extremely grateful for the run Bernie Sanders made for the Presidency. He is articulating many of the positions important to me, and forcing the media and the Corporate Democrats to give these issues at least a passing thought. He is laying the groundwork for what I believe and pray will be the Progressive majority takeover in 2020. What happened in Virginia and New Jersey in early November, I pray, is just the beginning.
15) I am thankful that even in this radically conservative area, I still can seek out and find liberal friends to talk to. Clinton received only 12% of the vote in my home county, but I know many of those who voted for her, and those who earlier voted for Bernie Sanders, and I am grateful that I found them. Some ask who I support in 2020. I don't know yet, but I know that a prefer the Democratic Party run a woman for President,,,,AND Vice-President. It's time. It's way past time.
16) I am thankful that I can read, and enjoy the pleasures of the printed page. I know that some people laugh at my elaborate method of randomly picking new books to read, but it gives me great pleasure, and that is the most important part. I am currently reading The Map of Time by Felix de Palma.
17) I am thankful for the DVR, that lets me watch the programs I want when I want to watch them. And that I get to fast forward through most of the commercials. I am also grateful for streaming, and the high speed internet that makes it so practical. We just finished Stranger Things 2 and have started Mindhunters. The Man in the High Castle and The Handmaid's Tale was among some of the best television I've ever seen.
18) I am thankful for pets. We have four wonderful dogs, Dachshund mixes who are loving and have long, waggy tails. Well, our newest, Boss-A-Man, may be more chihuahua and Pomerian, but he is marvelously sweet, and I'm glad I get to spend more time with him, in my semi-retirement. We also have a cat who is on rare occasion sweet, and we foster dogs for the Okefenokee Humane Society.
19) I am thankful for movies. I love storytelling of all kinds, and there is still nothing like going to the movie theater. The best we have seen recently is Thor: Ragnarok. Wonder Woman still stnds out in my mind, too.
20) I am thankful for continuing medical advances that help extend and improve the quality of life.
21) I am thankful that communities still come together sometimes to support neighbors in crisis, like with sick children, or suffering a fire, or other tragedy. The assistance given to others during the recent hurricanes was heartwarming, but Trump's cold and disturbing reaaction to Puerto Rico's recovery was heart-breaking,
22) I am thankful for those friends I have discovered or reconnected with through Facebook. I am most grateful to Benita Vierke Collins, for her friendship and her efforts, and at reconnecting the Bridgeport High School Class of 73, including such friends as Coleen Hitsman Anegon, Dona Bow Kilbourne, Paul Buckner, Lisa Whitehead, Karen Iffil, and Linda Arnst Spayeth (who has been so supportive of my writing efforts).
23) I am thankful for the great joy comic books have brought to my life. I have been a fan and collector since I have been 5 years old. Recently, Superman has been rebooted yet again, but the results have been AMAZING, with Lois and Clark married with a son. Action Comics and Detective Comics have been restored to their original numbering, and I couldn't be happier. And now many of the Marvel titles are restoring their original numbering, and I am over-joyed. I went through many years where fellow fans and professionals belittled my desire to restore legacy numbering, and now tat it here, I can't help but doing a bit of a victory dance.
24) I am thankful for Christmas, and the opportunity to express such joy and love to others.
25) I am thankful for the peacemakers, all the diplomats and others who spend so much time and efforts to make the world a better place to live. I pray that we give them the space to do what they can in Syria and other hot spots around the world. I am thankful for the many Americans who have been willing to welcome the Syrian refugees and others in crisis. You may not know from listening to the darkest politician of my age, Donald Trump, or others echoing his bigoted and hateful sentiments, but there are still many Americans, of diverse faith and politics, who still care about people and remember that this is a NATION of immigrants and refugees. I am grateful for the courts for slowing down his blatant MUSLIM ban. Unfortunately for the world, we have put the hateful bigot in charge. I can only pray that goodness and diplomacy still prevail.
26) I am thankful for first responders, who often put their lives on the line for us.
27) I am thankful for ketchup, the condiment of the gods.
28) I am thankful for Cherry Coke, the nectar of the gods.
29) I am thankful for colder weather, so I can go out sometimes without having to worry about the gnats. That's not every Fall/Winter day here in Southeast Georgia, but it does happen often to celebrate it when it does.
30) I am thankful for God, and for love.
31) I am thankful for Jesus Christ, who resides in my heart, and urges me to love God, love my neighbors, and do everything I can to make this a better world.
Time's up! On to Thanksgiving festivities!
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