Thanksgiving Eve

On Thanksgiving Eve, as I wait for my pumpkin pie to cool so I can put it in the refrigerator, let me take a few minutes to reflect on the things for which I am grateful this year.  I did this several years ago, but have not done it in a few years.

1. First of all, of course, I am grateful to have long-suffering Walt in my life.  He makes me laugh, drives me to endless stage shows, carries more than his share of the load around here and still loves me anyway.  He's always been a wonderful father and I love the good relationship he has with all the kids.

2. And I am thankful for our kids -- the ones who survived.  I am thankful that we are all friends and all love each other, and that our disagreements are minor.

2a.  I am particularly thankful this year for Ned.  I think about that every time I sit in my beautiful new office.

3.  I am thankful that they each married wonderful people whom I love like my own children.

4. I am thankful for the memories that I have of our dead sons.  That may sound weird, but when they died we had great relationships, and I have so much to look back on for when they were alive.

5.  I am thankful for two beautiful granddaughters, who are growing up much too quickly, but who are both loving little girls.

5. I am thankful for the dogs.  I hate them every time they want me to feed them, but I am thankful that basically they are very good about letting me sleep in the morning and nap in the afternoon.  They might be my "pet" peeves when I am awake, but it could be so much worse.

6. I am thankful that my mother is in a good place that seems to really understand what her problems are and how best to deal with them.  There are times when I get aggravated with Atria, but never for their care of my mother.

7. And I'm grateful that she is still in my life, and despite her dementia, is mostly in a good mood.  I miss the companionship that she used to give me, but I am glad that we can still laugh together.

8. I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to see so many wonderful shows this year, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It's worth it all to be sitting in critic seats for Book of Mormon, knowing people have paid $100 for the seats and we get them for free.  It's also wonderful to discover something astounding, like Grounded the show we saw a couple of years ago, which still stands out as absolutely fantastic., and little Lilac Buckser, age 7, who was in one of the Christmas Carols we saw last week.  A real talent in the making and we were there to see her first show!

9.  I am thankful for the friends, near and far who are so important to my life, like the Piñata women, especially Charlotte; my friend Kathy, who is my lunchtime buddy; Joycie, who took her title of "big sister" very seriously back in 1956 and has been my friend ever since; the CompuServe women, all of whom are great friends, even tho we rarely have the opportunity to get together.

10. I'm thankful for the Internet which allows me to make new friends, who then stay in my life for many years, whether we ever meet face to face or not.  And then there are friends like Kimberly, with whom I have been internet friends for a very long time, and whom I met just this month for the first time.

11.  I am thankful that San Francisco is my home town because I love to show it off whenever possible!

12.  I am thankful that I have had the privilege of volunteering at Logos the past 4-5 years, and will be sad when Peter and Susan turn it over to new owners in January because I will stop volunteering then, but it's sure been a great experience.

13.  I am thankful for air conditioning and cooling fans in summer and sweatshirts in winter.

14. And I am thankful for my sponsored family -- Anjali, Brayan, Briana, Fred, and many others, who help me put all of this in perspective and make me realize what a truly blessed life I lead.

15  Finally, believe it or not, I am grateful - sort of - to Donald Trump because he has only been "elect" less than two weeks and already he is showing is devoted followers that he is the liar we've said he is all along.  His promise was that in his first 100 days he would put Hillary Clinton in jail, start building the damn wall, and abolish Obamacare.  Now he seems to be changing his mind about prosecuting Hillary, kinda likes some of Obamacare, thinks maybe human actions might affect climate after all, and in his "first 100 days' there is no mention of the damn wall, which he was going to start on Day 1.  Not only that, but it is costing the American people $1 million a day to take care of Melania and Barron in New York (to say nothing of the congestion in front of Trump Tower) and this is unlikely to end until at least June.

He also said he would put his business in a blind trust and let his kids run it, and now he's saying he can run his business and the country both from the Oval Office.  He'll make billions in the next four years.

So, yeah, I'm almost grateful to him for showing his true colors immediately.  Makes me wonder how much worse it can get, when he hasn't even been inaugurated yet

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I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We will have a quiet day, just bringing my mother here for an early dinner.  But I will at least have leftovers on Friday.