Thanksgiving Day is upon us once more. Thank God that the 2021 version is going to be much better than its 2020 counterpart. That’s not to say 2021 as a whole has been better than 2020, because it really hasn’t. At least not in my world. Another death in the family, a horrendous basement flood, a car accident for my mom, and lots of smaller, irritating things made 2021 pretty crappy, too. But that’s life, right? Shit happens. And the best way to get through it is to deal with the shit as best you can and be grateful for the good things in your life.
Last year, COVID kept me from seeing any of my immediate family on what I consider to be the biggest family holiday of the year. This year, though, will be different. My wife and I will be hosting dinner for my mom, my brother, and one of my sisters. And both of our sons will be in the house, too! It’s actually going to be somewhat normal*, which I am extremely grateful for. (* FYI, "normal” with my family is never really normal, but I think you get what I mean.)
So, I guess it’s time for what has become my annual Thanksgiving Gratitude List. I don’t post much on this blog anymore, but I still like to sit down and make this list once a year. It kind of keeps me grounded. (If you’ve never made a gratitude list, I highly recommend it.)
Happy Thanksgiving from me and mine to you and yours. My hope is that you have an enjoyable day with people who truly matter to you, and that you eat well in the process. Appreciate what and who you have, because there are a lot of people who would love to have the same. And at some point, you may not have everything or everyone you have today. So, be in the moment and take it all in. As my spiritual advisor Anne Lamott says, “Right this minute, we understand that this is all there is, so let’s really be together.” (My family actually uses that line as our pre-meal “grace.”)
And with that, here's my stream of consciousness, in-no-particular-order gratitude list for 2021. As always, there will be overlaps from last year, but so be it.
Some Things I Am Grateful For
Kathleen Marie Cook Dauphinais (always at the very top of my gratitude list)
My 90-year-old mom
My two sons, Sam and Josh
My other two sons, Thelonious and Monk
Everett, Duncan, Christy, and Kyle
My siblings
My job at Families Against Narcotics
My co-workers
Vaccinations
My Pontiac Solstice convertible
Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption on ESPN (my favorite hour of television)
The TV the guy on Facebook Marketplace gave me for free
Friends (the actual people, not the TV show!)
Fredi Bello (a.k.a. Fredi the Pizzaman)
My house
Cookbooks
People with a similar sense of humor
Hosting living room shows
Window screens
Spending time with my two little buddies next door
My fireplace
Naloxone
Boat days with my neighbors
A basement that’s getting closer and closer to being back to a pre-flood state
My electrophysiologist
Music
Anne Lamott and her amazing words
Everyone who follows my Anne Lamott Quotes Twitter feed
33 years of marriage
Decent writing and editing skills
Jim Bryson
Matthew Ryan
Kathleen Edwards
Pizza (duh)
Will Johnson’s artwork
The Serious Eats website
J. Kenji López-Alt
Clouds
Zoloft
Cashews
My neighborhood and all my wonderful neighbors
Chris Walker at Golling Toyota
Gratitude (Can you be grateful for gratitude? I think so!)
Memories of those no longer with us (my dad, mother- & father-in-law, & grandparents)
Taylor Swift
Essential workers
Lake Michigan
Siblings-in-law, nieces, and nephews
Random acts of kindness
Saturday New York Times Daily Mini and Spelling Bee challenges with David and Alli
The Internet
The moon
The Detroit Lions (Just kidding! The Lions suck!)
Mickey Redmond
Facebook Marketplace
Jennifer Garner
Julia Kristina, M.A. Psych.
JM Storm
Spring, summer, and fall (sorry, winter)
Freshly baked bread with butter
Eastside Bagel
Reasonably good cooking skills
The writings of Matt Haig
Hope (always)
Good health insurance
Bob and Jayne at Undertow Music
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads this. Peace, love, and good food.
What are you grateful for today?
-Dean
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~Melody Beattie
