It’s Thanksgiving week: a rejuvenating holiday for some, a struggle for others — especially, maybe, this year. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, shares what he hopes is a bit of common gratitude.
I don’t have any surefire Thanksgiving tips except one: Green bean casserole is always a good idea.
Beyond that, I know that this year some of you are going to have a harder time than usual feeling thankful.
We’ve just finished a bruising election that has left a lot of us fearful of the times ahead. Some of the people sharing the table with you this week might have voted for the other side. The bonds we count on to hold us together — our families, our national pride — might feel brittle in your hands.
Some folks have a tradition at Thanksgiving dinner of going around the table and, one by one, sharing gratitude for something. Maybe you’re struggling with what to say. Let me suggest one thing we can all be thankful for:
More time.
Just sitting at the table means we made it through another year. And even the worst years are full of wonders.
In our household, we’ve had multiple health issues this year. Two of the three of us have spent time in a hospital. We’ve had some grim and tearful moments. But we have also laughed and hugged and shared in the bounty of the people who love us.
The other day, my mother-in-law and I got to talking about the detective novels we read when we were kids. We reminisced over all those old mystery series: Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins. Then all of a sudden, my mother-in-law got a gleam in her eye. I could see her imagination working. And she said: “The Bobbsey Twins and I know things you could not imagine.”
Dear listener, I LOL’d.
I am so thankful for moments like that.
I’m thankful for the way the light sneaks around the blinds in the morning. I’m thankful for aimless drives around the city, just seeing the sights. I’m thankful for long rambling lunch dates and phone calls from friends and singing along to Stevie Wonder while I wash the dishes.
None of those things land on any bank statement or piece of official paperwork. But they all matter more than we can calculate.
The writer Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” I am always thankful for more of those days. May you be thankful, too, no matter how you spend this Thanksgiving, for another generous serving of priceless time.
Tommy Tomlinson’s On My Mind column runs Mondays on WFAE and WFAE.org. It represents his opinion, not the opinion of WFAE. You can respond to this column in the comments section below. You can also email Tommy at ttomlinson@wfae.org.
