Thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving is a holiday that sticks out in my mind and allows me to easily recall occasions going back for almost as long as I have been alive. It's the diversity of the gatherings and the locales which makes for this remembrance. I have also had many different roles: from being the host to being a guest, to being a stray with no where else to go. It truly has made no difference in my mind, these were all Thanksgivings. It's probably part of the reason I like the Peanuts version of Thanksgiving and the subtle lessons it teaches about being a good guest and not caring if your host is serving jellybeans, popcorn, and buttered toast. Being seated at a table with a turkey on it sure is better than working, which I did one year while I was a restaurateur, and infinitely better than having no place at all to go.

Funniest Thanksgiving was being a guest and the host knowing I was good in the kitchen so for some reason she put green food coloring in the mashed potatoes. I simply smiled and said they were delicious. Still makes me some smile over twenty years later. Most poignant Thanksgiving was on Plum Island in Massachusetts, north of Boston, having dinner with a family I knew nothing about and would never see again. They were working class with young children but had room at the table for two more strays. To me, this will always be my touchstone for the true spirit of Thanksgiving. No hesitation on their part about asking us to join them and no regrets on anyone's part for the pleasant time we spent together.