“I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.”
–Jon Stewart
Meanings change over the years. What was once a recipe for small pox and genetic annihilation is now a moment of thanks for the people who won that particular conflict, and even the ones who lost. We give thanks–the masses for what we have and the Natives for the Casinos that prod us to relinquish what we have to a triad of spinning cherries. Still, Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that I deeply enjoy and will soon regret not being a larger part of. The last vestiges of my extended family is moving on, leaving me alone with a wife who often wants to kill me (seems I am a bad husband–who knew?), and three little boys who have never learned the meaning of the turkey day.
Modern Thanksgiving is about family. The larger a family you have, the more exciting and compelling the holiday appears to be. My sister-in-law is fleeing the desert in order to be closer to her very large family where these holidays are joyful and honored. Here we merely have a few bites and fall asleep. I would love to do more, but my home and network of contacts is only so big. Admittedly I have been having a bout of home envy as of late. A friend whom I adore has the perfect entertaining house. It has always been a goal of mine to have such a house. On the other hand, it is also a goal of mine to never move again… See, there I go wanting more again. Of course, if you really think about it, Black Friday begins moments after we finish giving thanks, so my wanting more is a bit of a cultural ‘of course’.
I want to say thanks for all the friends in my life. Naming all of you would take a very long time, but I do want to mention a few that have really helped me through the troubles over the last decade. Thank you Nikki, you’re the best. Alex, Kelly Ross (yeah, you’re kind of a big deal), Hondo, Tina, Lonnie, and my main man Dwight. I don’t pray much, but I offer thanks to my higher power for you all dropping into my life.