Around Thanksgiving

Considering I got laid off in February, we got burglarized in early November, Joan and I have been sick since before Thanksgiving and especially after, and we've had all sorts of other family, health, and financial challenges, you'd think I'd be less than thankful this Thanksgiving season, but I am thankful: This time of year is one of the most meaningful for me because it's the one time we purposely pause to appreciate. For the time being, Joan and I have landed on our feet financially; we weren't home when the burglar broke through the front door, so we weren't hurt physically; the grandkids are doing great; and while not all is right with the world, we're muddling through, same as our nation and globe -- which is all I'm realistically expecting these days, since voters seem bound and determined to underregulate banks, Wall Street, fossil fuel use, insurance, health care, and so forth, and since we're bound and determined collectively to live up to the Judeo-Christian Bible command to "multiply and consume the Earth," which we're doing with a vengeance. (Not discussed among many folks I know of is what happens AFTER we've multiplied and consumed the Earth, but I guess the answer's becoming self-evident.) And so...I am thankful that I was allowed to work with fine people at two newspapers for nearly 20 years total and that several of us still look out for each other (thus the reason I have a temporary[?] job right now); I'm thankful to have been privilege to have served alongside stellar journalists and others, and all the opportunities the jobs afforded me; I'm thankful for supportive lifelong friends, who are basically family, including two who have extended the comfort of their home while I hold down that temp job; I'm thankful for tolerant family members and friends who never abandoned me despite my foibles and faults; I'm thankful that Joan discovered BBC America, Netflix, TiVo instructions, etc., so we can enjoy all sorts of different shows together; I'm thankful for modern innovations (as long as they don't junk up the environment); and I'm thankful for pets we've had, as they are family, too. Above all, I'm thankful in general: for the good times that have left me with good memories; the present, which allows me to enjoy still; and the future, which we can enjoy planning for while living for today.