Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, my favorite holiday. I know it’s become an overly commercial boondoggle and a slippery slope into the dreaded Christmas season (even Charles Dickens bemoaned the commercialism of Christmas in the 19th century!).
Regardless of all that, setting aside a time for thanks is an ancient ritual, spanning most (if not all cultures), and I think it’s very healthy (overeating notwithstanding)..
I know at any given time, there is great suffering in the world. Every single person’s best day is somebody else’s worst day. I know the distribution of the things that we deem to be blessings is woefully capricious and unfair.
But most of us can find something to be thankful and feeling grateful is pleasant and enriching. If your current situation will accommodate spending time with family and friends, and enjoying a nice meal, all the better.
As I get older, any given annual gathering seems to be missing someone that’s been there in previous years. But if someone has left us, the memories we have are still reason for being thankful.
This year, I’m also going to single out thanks to the current CBA leadership. As someone who has been part of this organization’s leadership, I am fully aware of the challenges, and they deal with the ones I dealt with but also a recent pandemic, and a cultural shift from a hard copy world to a virtual one, and they have done a wonderful job – they saw how the CBA can continue to serve its members, in ways that is cognizant and respectful of shifting technologies and preferences.
On a purely selfish note, I am grateful to continue my wonderful life with my wife (40 years married this year) – our kids, their spouses and their children. And my friends, some going back 60 years! And I am grateful to still be an active working musician – I know that blessing can falter at any time.
Overall, I am grateful for a busy, interesting life. I’m gonna keep THAT going as long as I can. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
