What are you thankful for today?

What are you thankful for every day?

Thanksgiving celebrations come around only once a year with family gatherings, big turkey dinners, lots of kids, decorations, maybe even an early tree set up in the living room with lights blazing in the late afternoon twilight. In many places in this country, already the cold rainy weather is upon us and along with it the winter coats, scarves, gloves, boots and hats array the hooks in the hallway ready for outside adventures. This day also marks the beginning of the countdown to Christmas usually a little less than a month away.

Giving thanks is the theme we play today. What are we thankful for every day?

I always have a few notebooks running where I collect the bits of my mind in writing. Here is where I take a little minute often to remember what I am thankful for every day. I am thankful that I can and do remember, that my body is holding up quite well for 7 decades of use. I am grateful for the good friends I have where I may be simply what I am at the moment without pretensions. I am happy to be the elder and to give freely the wisdom I have accumulated as I have taken care of the best and worst of myself and life as it flows onward through the seasons and years. I am thankful for some things: I have a reliable vehicle to get around in, my computer opens me to a world of information and knowledge and my far away friends.

Mostly I am thankful for the basic goodness of life. I see my world with clarity not attempting to make it rosier than it is. I choose to see its natural beauty, the beauty of people as they do what they do to make it, the exuberance of children becoming wise in their kid ways. Oh, yes, there is evil in the world and as I accept that as a truth, the very understanding allows me to overcome what I must that is close to me in my small, tidy community in southern Oregon. With patience I continue to work on myself in the arena where I can accomplish useful changes.

While you munch on turkey today, and pumpkin pie, remember again to be deeply thankful. And remember also to consider every day what is good, kind, charming and beautiful in your life.

Bon appetit!