Today is Thanksgiving Day. I'm supposed to be on my way to a friend's house for dinner. Well, in every other year of my life save one, I would be on my way to a family member's house for dinner. Instead, I am home with two cats and 3 dozen birds...counting my blessings all the same. I'm in Arizona instead of Massachusetts because I went home in September and October and am going again in December. I'm not a millionaire and you almost need to be if you are going to fly across the country once a month. So, I stayed put in the Valley of the Sun this year. I'm in my own home instead of a friend's because I succumbed at the beginning of the week to a barrage of germs that came forth from my hacking and sneezing students. I was hoping to escape this year, but now I'll have to hope it's just this one time...and that it is short-lived.
So, as I said, it's just me and the cats...and the 3 dozen birds swarming my bird feeders. Nothing exotic, just house finches and sparrows and juncos. Oh, and the doves. Three varieties of doves.... Still, there is much to be thankful for. I don't need any Facebook statuses, text messages, TV commercials, or days off from school to remind me that I have more than my share of things to be grateful for. Tuesday in my last class, one of my students asked me to share with the class one of the most exciting things I've done in my life. She was jut trying to make conversation, and thus avoid having class, but she caught me up short. I really didn't know what to tell her. I couldn't think of anything...not because there's nothing, but because there are so many things...literally. I ended up saying that I've been very lucky, that my life has been very exciting, at least by my definition. She just looked at me, thinking, I'm sure, that I was just trying to avoid her question...which I kind of was...my definition of exciting probably wouldn't match that of a 17 year old girl's.
Still...I come back to being grateful...grateful for all the things that have gone on in my life to make me who I am, imperfect as that being is. I have an amazing family that's full of beautiful, smart, funny, vibrant people spanning several generations and two continents. I have scores of lovely friends spanning decades in age and length of friendship. I have a job I love, I work with people I like and respect. I belong to a church that feeds my spirit and soul. I live in a place that, while not my beloved New England, is at least tolerable most of the time. I can't complain. I am, in fact, most grateful...
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