Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday: focused on food, friends and saying thanks for having both (and still joyfully uncommercialized). Inspired by Thanksgiving, here is my thank you tribute to the world around me.
I give thanks for nature’s stunning colours that we have yet to improve upon; the yellows and oranges of monarch butterflies and golden sunflowers, red velvet roses, the rich tapestry of fall foliage, robin’s egg blue, aqua tropical oceans, lush green meadows, and the dark, dark, deep blue sky that you see only at high altitude.
Thanks for the majesty of mountain peaks, deep canyons, tall trees, great lakes and oceans. Thanks for the sight of a sinewy jaguar or thoroughbred running at full speed to make us feel free, for the sight of a whale to make us feel small, for the sight of a newborn to make us feel protective, for the sight of a shark to remind us that we don’t own the earth. I would especially like to give Mother Nature props (and thanks) for some of her best eye-candy including the Northern lights, waterfalls, starry skies, lightning bolts, mother of pearl, rainbows, star fruit, and sunrises and sunsets that light up the sky and the sense of beauty within us.
Thanks for showing us what is possible when we work together; including the pyramids, Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal, golden Buddhist temples, Gaudi’s Park Guell and modernistic shiny steel and glass buildings. Thanks for cathedrals’ intricate stained glass windows that dance colourful patterns across their polished floors as the sun crosses the sky. Thanks for art housed in galleries, in gardens, in nature, in our homes and on our refrigerator doors.
I give thanks for the ability to hear poetry, songs, whispered sweet nothings, the truth, the word “yes”, children’s contagious laughter, and the right words from the right person at the right time. Thanks for the sound of our flag flapping proudly in the wind, happy baby noises, and the crunching of snow or fallen leaves beneath our feet. Thanks for music that travels beyond our ears, drums the soul, fills our hearts and literally moves us. Thanks for the haunting call of a loon, crickets’ and frogs’ serenades, babbling brooks, crashing waves, and pounding rain on a roof that doesn’t leak. Thanks for quiet.
I give thanks for the softness of my children’s skin, for sand and grass between my toes, for the satiny edge of a blanket, and the silky fur of a kitten. Thanks for the smoothness of a rock tumbled by the surf, for the warmth of the sun on my face, and for a cold glass of water on a hot day. Thanks for the comfort of big hugs and well-worn blue-jeans.
I give thanks for the promising smell of food being prepared; especially bread-baking, coffee brewing, bacon cooking, and freshly crushed herbs. Thanks for distinctive smells that take you back to the places and people you once knew. Thanks for the perfume of a dozen roses that say I’m thinking of you. Thanks for the smell of mossy forests after a light rain, for lilac bushes, cedar, pine and the smell of a campfire.
Thank you, thank you, for every delightful food group and some that are not really “groupable” (like Twinkies). I am especially thankful for lobster, artichokes, melted butter, and mayonnaise. Thank you for blackcurrants candies, Pringles chips, hazelnut gelato, crème caramel, berries, passion fruit, fresh-squeezed orange juice, dulce de leche, pad thai, butter chicken and white chocolate. Thanks for my mother’s cannelloni, my father’s lemon pie, and my mother-in-law’s raspberry and almond iced cookies.
I am thankful for people who are passionate about what they do, for the wings given to us by those who love us, and for belonging. Thanks for great conversation and witty repartee. Thanks for comfortable routines, tradition, spontaneity, and change. Thanks for good health, peace of mind, and for the ability to move our bodies in so many novel ways.
Thanks for first kisses, love at first sight, and for the desire to hold on to both feelings forever. Thanks for understanding, forgiveness, unconditional love, and second chances.
Thanks for ideas and creativity, for tenacity and integrity, for feeling and knowing. Thanks for blank canvases. Thanks for the ability to write, think, wonder, learn, teach, communicate, contribute, achieve, and make a difference.
Thanks for will, hard work, and satisfaction. Thanks for joy, hope, beauty, and inspiration.
Thanks for adventure, discovery, dreams and the journey towards them. Thanks for random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty; for light at the end of the tunnel, for story book endings and happily ever after.
Thanks for reading. What are you thankful for?