Along with pies, potatoes, turkey and stuffing (myself included) Thanksgiving for me is a day that I find to be increasingly introspective.  As we get older our focus changes along with our eyesight and the things that made Thanksgiving a special day when age 7 can not be the same at age 64.  My early memories of Thanksgiving is the excitement of receiving the Sears Roebuck Christmas catalog.  It may be that my parents received it earlier but we were not privy to it until after Thanksgiving.  Going through it page by page with my brother skipping the girly section we would head straight for the real toys.  We would eventually have one or two items from every page marked for Santa Claus never realizing we would have bankrupted Mr. and Mrs. Claus had we were to receive a quarter of our wishes.  When Christmas came we never noticed that we only received one or two of the items which maybe is part of the magic of Christmas.  Thanksgiving was a warm home with the scent of a turkey in the oven and watching a parade on the television.  A couple of years we went downtown Philly to watch the Gimble’s Parade from the warmth of my fathers office but for me parades were always secondary to that Sears catalog.

With my teen years my focus shifted to football and Thanksgiving was now more than just a day.  Usually one or two weekends before and after with Thanksgiving as the center point was for me the greatest time of the year.  Army vs. Navy, UCLA vs. USC, Texas vs. Oklahoma, Notre Dame vs. Anybody consumed me and brought what I now realize was joy to me.  Then my life changed when I was 15.  I met this girl who lived down the street and while my passion for those football games remained they were now tempered with a growing realization of who I befriended.  She was my version of the Sears catalog in that she brought me joy and desires for things that were even less attainable then even five pages of the Sears catalog.  We walked together around the block constantly just talking everyday.  I wonder how much fun we would have missed had technology been what it is today.  While we walked together all year it is the Fall/Winter season that I attach with our relationship.  It was a cold day that I first held her hand.  I think she wanted me to feel how cold her hand was and I just didn’t let go; it was a cold Valentines day when I first kissed her – almost.  I walked her home and as I bent down to kiss her goodnight for the first time all I puckered to was air because she had turned to go inside.  To quote Chuck Berry “C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell” because 49 years later I still get that Sears Christmas catalog excitement.

We tried to raise our boys with the family togetherness that Thanksgiving brings and for the most part I want to believe we succeeded but while your children have traits of you they are individuals and you can only hope that they are the better traits they adopted.  And now we have three beautiful grandchildren to bring Thanksgiving an added sense of family.  What a joy they are too!  I can’t help but feel sorry for them though because instead of a Sears Christmas catalogue they have Amazon which is viewed everyday.  Instant gratification and commercialism are not a good combination as the magic is taken out of the equation.  To quote a line from “Miracle On 34th. Street” a favorite Christmas movie of mine ” There’s a lot of bad ism’s floating around in this world but one of the worst is commercialism”.

Thanksgiving is a day set aside to give thanks to our Creator for all of our blessings in life.  As this nation grows more secular in nature we focus more on the problems and the curses that plague us.  It is an easy trap to fall into and a difficult one to grow out of for many of us.  Everyday I thank God for my family, friends and coworkers and ask for the continued blessings.  When I look around at society I see how much I am blessed.  Of course there are the racist who will say that I am only experiencing the benefits of “white privilege” but these people have no concept of Thanksgiving in their collective mind and choose to focus on the irrelevant aspect of race.  That mindset is akin to the southern slaveholders and more recently the fascist who ran Germany and Japan and the concept of “Thanksgiving” is alien to their life.

So why do I feel so thankful (discounting the fact I am white)?   I am not wealthy.  My home is falling down around my head.  I do not have the energy I need to fix things.  I am employed in a job that satisfying but the employer has made it stressful beyond  necessity to the point I am seriously considering collecting SS though I am only 64.  I have health issues that are a real nuisance.  I am the most pessimistic optimist I know but I am truly thankful.  I was raised in a good family, my parents loved all six of us and each other and always provided for us.  I was born in a good time period in a good Nation.  As a history buff there are several periods in time that I like to believe I am more suited for and would have preferred until I consider the ultimate comparison – air conditioning.  Some say the printing press is the greatest of man’s inventions but I disagree.  Air conditioning beats all.  Sweat is way over rated.  Meeting the love of my life while still a youngster has been the culmination of all those good things.  My four boys and now three (so far) grandchildren have only added to my blessings.  I have been blessed with good friends (more than I deserve) and a growing understanding of God.  My life could be construed as being boring as I have never experienced combat and the sadness of tragedy has not been visited upon my family.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles and parents have passed away and while sad, their passing was in what we consider a natural order.   With these blessings I live in fear due to a small voice in the back of my mind warning me that my dues have not yet come.  We have been told to live a balanced life and I take that seriously.

Thanksgiving is but one day but I am thankful everyday for waking up and seeing my Sears Christmas catalog.  And whether you believe in Him or not; God has been good to us as a Nation and to me as an individual.