Being thankful...

Well boys and girls, it's Thanksgiving in America today.  As I live in the UK I never have marked this occasion in any way.  As my dad once said, 'You live in England, what have you got to be thankful for?'

I've always laughed at my father's frivolous comment (at least I hope it was) and I've taken for granted so many of the things in my life.  When I lived in the States and we had Thanksgiving dinners with cousins I never remember it being a time to stop and consider what we were blessed with, or how grateful we ought to be feeling for the state of our lives. It was simply turkey time and sweet potatoes covered in gooey marshmallows and the Wizard of Oz on TV.

When I was quite young we used to spend Thanksgiving day with my mum's American cousins, Sophie and Irving, and they always made a wonderfully exotic American dinner.  i see now that it wasn't at all exotic it was plain American home cooking, but to me, being used to heavy Eastern European cooking, it seemed wonderfully different.  When I was a bit older my cousins moved to Staten Island, a train  and ferry journey from our apartment in the Bronx.  This was fantastic - we got to go on a boat.  The ferry ride was only ten minutes or so, but I felt like we had travelled across a continent. That's what I remember of Thanksgiving. Not much more.

When my mother made a rare Thanksgiving dinner at our house it always had a Polish/Jewish twist - potato kugel, not sweet potatoes, apple cake not pumpkin pie and it never felt too ddiferent from any other family dinners we had.  The idea of talking about or even thinking about things we were thankful for never entered my head. Perhaps my parents thought about this, but it was never expressed to us kids.

I always liked the fact that Thanksgiving was the most democratic of American holidays.  Of course the history behind it has been re-written and re-invented to suit US patriotism, but it is still the holiday that everyone celebrates.  It doesn't matter if you're Polish, Mexican, Italian, Chinese or Indian American,  Thanksgiving is for all Americans and is a huge big deal for families.  Most cultures and religions put their own twist on foods served, just as my parents used to do, but still everyone seems to mark the last Thursday in November in this way.

So here I am 3,546 miles from New York sitting in my living room in North London watching bad daytime TV and thinking about giving thanks.  What do I have to be thankful for? So, so much that I think I'll just start by listing a few things that immediately come to mind.

1) My relationships - with Ralph, with my talented, beautiful grown-up children, with my father and the rest of my family, my friends all round the world, my teachers, my work colleagues and with my neighbours.

2) My health - after countless stays in hospital, a major cancer episode,my spinal surgery and so many other 'procedures' I have had, I am remarkably healthy.  I sneeze and splutter and I complain like mad, but basically I feel great.

3) My home - I love my house.  It's warm and cozy and often feels like the safest place I know.  I love welcoming people into it and having a place of such long-lasting security.

4) My work - it keeps me sane in the winter when my moods fluctuate the way they are now.  I love the fact that for over 25 years I have been granted the privilege of working with thousands of people and feeling that I have made a positive difference in the world.

5) My talents and creativity - I am continually inspired and feel thankful that I have so many ways to entertain myself and feel fulfilled. The gifts I have been blessed with are never taken for granted and I am so lucky to have all these abilities.

6) My life experience - I have had so many varied experiences.  I expect that everyone who is over 60 will have lived an interesting life, but I am also thankful for all of it, even the bad bits.  I would not be me without them.  I have been tested a lot and always come out fine.  I am grateful for who I am and what I am capable of.

Enough, I realise I could go on and on and actually get quite maudlin sitting here alone in the fading light of the day. I guess today, on Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the sum total of all the places and experiences over all the  years of all my life, of my inheritance, my genetic history and my capacity to love.  I am and always will be eternally grateful to those who love me. I am even thankful to be living in England.  I am remakably blessed in my life, even without the turkey dinner.