Thanks (Giving)

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I didn't cook a turkey. I didn't even get around to posting a blog entry listing all the Things I Am Thankful For (or Things For Which I Am Thankful, if you get antsy about ending sentences with prepositions ... which I don't).

I did cook a Thanksgiving meal -- cranberry chicken with rice -- for my parents and my Aunt Gertie and Aunt Vera. It was a pretty low-key Thanksgiving meal, not too labour-intensive, leaving me with lots of time to hang around the house taking pictures of my kids being adorable; Christopher playing with his dad's electric guitar and Emma playing with my 35-year-old Fisher Price toys. And really, when it comes to things I'm thankful for, a picture is worth several thousand words.

I just wrote a list for my last blog (thanks for the comments everyone! I still want to know who other people's crushes are!) so I'm not inclined to generate a Thankfulness List -- plus which, my list is really predictable. I'm thankful for all the things I should be thankful for -- family, friends, God's love, great job, excellent health, books, House on DVD ... There's nothing startling or surprising on my list, and why should there be? "May you live in interesting times" is a curse, not a blessing. I see enough "interesting" lives around me every day; what I'm most grateful for this Thanksgiving is that I do have all those boring, predictable things to be grateful for, and not for one second do I take them for granted.

On Sunday I gave all the change in my van's change tray (about 80 cents) to a panhandler, because he made me smile. He was standing on the median at the traffic lights at Freshwater Rd/Kenmount Rd/Columbus Drive, holding a sign that said, "FAMILY KIDNAPPED BY EVIL NINJAS. NEED SPARE CHANGE FOR KARATE LESSONS." That's so much better, in my eyes, than straight panhandling -- he put some effort into it and gave me a laugh. Well worth my change and the time it took to roll down my window -- and I don't even care what he uses the money for.

80 cents and a smile -- we each gave something, we each got something. Happy Thanksgiving, my dreadlocked panhandling friend, and to all my bloggery friends too. Enjoy this moment. May you live in not-too-interesting times.