Say Thank You, Gracie

Happy Thanksgiving to you folks in the US. I'm late with my thanks, but in Canada, we celebrate our thanksgiving in October, so it slipped my mind until I was watching an American news program this morning.

Thanksgiving seems to have become less about pilgrims and Indians these days and more about giving thanks and having a wonderful meal with people you love. And that's not such a bad thing. Giving thanks is something we don't do enough. Remembering that we have something to be thankful about is something we don't do enough. I had dinner with an old friend the other day, Geoff Cuskelly, and he had some really interesting things to say about how he lives his life. Things that we should all strive to do in our own way, and maybe just slow down the speed of life for a moment or two.

Interesting point #1. Geoff said that somebody told him once that we all had bad moments, but she didn't believe you could have a bad day. Imagine how much work it would take to have an entirely bad day. And isn't that just the truth? None of us has bad days but we let one little event in the day ruin our whole day. How smart is that? Why aren't we focusing on all the other good things or even mediocre things that happened during that day instead of the one bad thing. Mull that one over while you're chewing your turkey and stuffing.

Interesting point #2 - live in the moment. But I do, you say. Really? Think about this. you're having a wonderful dinner - the food is brilliant, your wife is smiling and wearing that sweater you love, the kids are laughing and giggling with the neighbour's kids, and the neighbours are telling a funny story about their cousins. Are you sitting there and laughing and smiling and enjoying the aroma coming from the stew sitting in the middle of the table? Nope, I bet you're not. I bet you're sitting there thinking "this is fun, we should do this again soon. Maybe next Thursday would be good..."

I thought he was so right about that. You know, we strive very hard for things. As a writer, I worked my butt off for ten years to get published. Did I enjoy the moment? I tried very hard to. I cried and laughed and had a big party. But then it's hard to stay there, because there is so much else to do and plan, publicity, the next book, writing groups, deadlines... So what I need to work on is learning to plan the future but live in the present. Sounds easy huh? Try it!



But my own interesting point is that if nothing else, remember to be thankful. It's like the poem - which I am going to misquote here terribly I'm sure - but that goes something like I was sad I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet. Be thankful for your life and all the great things in it. Even the challenges. Without challenges or mistakes, you would never learn anything.

I keep a copy of my books at my daytime job and I look at them several times a day and I am thankful. I am thankful that I had the fortitude and support to never give up. I am thankful that I listened to the comments of those who knew more than I did and became a better writer. I am thankful that I found agents and publishers that believed in me and were willing to take a chance on me. I am very thankful that there are people in the world that actually took the time to read my books, buy my books, and some even wrote me letters to tell me they liked my books. I am thankful that I have people that love me, a roof over my head, a car that gets me where I want to go, enough money to travel occasionally and do the things I love and the mind to enjoy what I have. I am very thankful for the dreams that I have and the fun and pain and strife and pride I am going to experience while I am working hard to attain them. Most recently, I am very thankful that Barbra Streisand is stilling performing and I got the chance to see her!

Happy Thanksgiving!