Thursday, November 27, 2003
The Feast
It’s not that it snuck up on me, I’ve been watching that pumpkin pie on the horizon getting bigger and closer every day with slavering anticipation. But this past few days at work have been a lot more intense than I had planned on them being, and my weekend was full and busy and wonderfully pleasant but not so productive… and mom’s in town staying with us through sunday… so I had to take off work yesterday and do floor and walls and trash and beds and the fridge and windows and cabinets and entryway and a few other messy items.... and that barely left time for grocery shopping and no time at all for cooking… and I still haven’t made time for a “thankfulness rumination.”
I could make the cynic’s choice and use this post as an opportunity to harrangue what I’m not thankful for. Many wise commentators, some with deep sonorous voices, have been doing the same this year. But I figure that I dedicate most days of the year to complaining about crap I can’t do a damn thing about. Bad ideas, bad execution, bad intentions, bad music. Here’s one chance to put aside my alum and admit, even if only grudgingly, that the world has something good to offer.
Today started with my getting an email from my dear friend daBomb, among the longest acquaintences in my life and among the most precious. It was a quick flash animation telling me she was grateful for me. For me? My dear, I’m grateful right back at you for you. For a lifetime of friendship, hours of wise counsel, years of uproarious laughter, and just for being so darn cute.
And that puts me on track to think of a lot of stuff that I’m thankful for. So much, it would likely be pretty boring to read a recitation of it. I’ve had an exceptional year, the sort I’d figured I was done having years ago. With this much to feel good about, a list would be too banal to reflect even a part of the thankfulness I feel.
So instead I’ll relate a short exchange between my dad and myself. I just got invited to offer a toast at his upcoming septidecimal birthday party, and I knew right away that my toast would have to include this story. It’s one of the first conversations I ever remember having. I was in the back seat of our car, and he was in the front, driving me to my nursery school on a bright morning. I was just starting to get actively curious and I remember asking, “is it better to be a kid or a grownup?” Dad gave a thoughtful pause and answered, “Kids think it’s better to be grownup, and grownups think it’s better to be a kid. The thing that’s best of all is to be who you are. If you’re a kid, be a kid and enjoy it. If you’re not, be who you are and have fun with it. If you think it’s better to be something else, you won’t even be what you are.”
Here’s to all of us having a day in which we are all ourselves, and enjoy it till we fall asleep.
