ChezLark

Well, the long Thanksgiving weekend is over, and tomorrow it’s back to work.

When I first moved to the States, I thought it was funny how much of a production Americans made over their Thanksgiving. In Canada, Thanksgiving is also a time for family to get together and have a nice meal, but it isn’t taken as seriously as in the US, or at least I don’t remember it being such a big deal as a kid. So I found it strange that in the States, millions of people travel across the country to reunite with their families, everything closes down, and there is dicussion on national media of how best to cook turkey and stuffing!

After thinking about it for a while, though, I think the Americans might be on to something. Although the Christmas retailing frenzy started early this year, Thanksgiving day has so far not been tied to any egregious, debt-inducing consumerism. In this respect, it has stayed much more pure than Christmas: its focus on family and thanks-giving is pretty much unalloyed. This year we were fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with some good friends and their family, and it really is wonderful to sit down to a comforting meal in good cheer, surrounded by multiple generations.

This year, I am inexpressibly thankful for the safe arrival of my captivating daughter, Ryan Marie, and to my beautiful wife Laura for carrying her, and for laboring so hard to deliver her to us safely. Getting to hold my new baby girl has been a singularly transformative experience in my life, and it is all thanks to my wonderful partner.

I’m also enormously thankful for the unflappable and inexhaustible love and support of our friends of family, who turned out in staggered waves to shower us with clothes, supplies, equipment, advice, and food. Just tonight, caring friends of ours showed up with a three-course meal in tow, and proceeded to assemble and serve it to us in our own home! My Mom has been instrumental in holding our newly altered household together, and Laura would have gone to pieces but for the loving support, commiseration and counseling of her close friends. For all of your kind acts, I am thankful.

Finally, I am thankful for something you may find inscrutable. I am thankful for every moment of calm contemplation that I have experienced, in which I manage to be calmly attentive and humbly appreciative of the world around me, rather than dashing through it as though it were a maze to navigate or a puzzle that must pressingly be solved. I always took it for granted that my life would consist of going as fast as possible; as I approach 30, I find myself increasingly wanting to slow down. Believe it or not, for that I am thankful.