Turkey Day 2020

Thanksgiving is less than a week away.  We have something to be especially thankful for this year.  What might that be?  Once we’ve stuffed ourselves with turkey, there’ll only be a few weeks until this year is over.  Seriously, can it come fast enough?

So, continuing my yearly tradition of the Thanksgiving post being about things I’m thankful for, here is my list:

I’m still alive and so are most of the people I care about.  Especially Ed.  Even though I’ve found a very nice, shady spot in the backyard where I could bury him and am occasionally tempted to, it’s nice being quarantined with your best friend.  It would be better if my other best friend was here, too, because I’d be able to play Scrabble non-stop, but that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.  Why not play with Ed?  Three-letter words are his expertise, so it would be a pretty boring, lopsided game.  At least with Maggie I have some stiff competition.

I did say “most” of the people I care about are still alive, so that might require an explanation.  Mary (as in Danny and Mary from my books) left us.  It’s a little tricky to be thankful about that, but I know her “life” is so much easier now than it has been for years, and that’s what I’m thankful for.  I have no doubt I’ll see her again and I’m thankful she’s no longer in pain, even if I do have to live without her.  God ALWAYS knows what He’s doing, and I trust Him enough to know it was her time.  Even if it does suck.

Instead of focusing in on the four kitty babies we’ve lost this year, I’m thankful we still have six left.  Even if they do make it impossible to write a simple note, since the pen becomes their play toy.  And even if they do insist on getting petted when I’m trying to do something extremely important, like playing solitaire.  There’s nothing quite like a purring cat to make the world a better place.

And there’s always the raccoons and raccoon babies to occupy my attention.  Not much need for a TV with those guys around.  They’re a comedy series just waiting to happen.  Ed saw a squirrel in our yard today.  I’ve lived in this house for forty years and never seen one in the yard.  So, raccoons, possums, squirrels, and stray cats.  We’ve become a wildlife sanctuary.

I’m thankful for my house.  I have been so blessed.  It’s big enough to keep two people out of each other’s hair and small enough to keep two people close.  I just wish it didn’t have so many storage hidey places, because I excel at hiding stuff.  Not so much at finding it again.

I’m thankful for Charmin.  Evidently, they upped their production because I can usually find it.  Thankfully, I stockpiled a bit since toilet paper is, once again, becoming a hard-to-find item.  The kids/grandkids know mom/grandma have it, which is one reason I stockpile.  Luckily, they live close enough to walk over and get a package in case of an emergency.  I saw a sign the other day I may get for one granddaughter.  Something along the lines of:  Text if you need toilet paper…I know you have your phone in there.  Although, based on previous experience, she already knows that’s an option.  Just sayin’.

I’m also thankful that turkeys are not in short supply.  Granted, I could only get an 18-pound one this year, not the usual 24-pounder, but there are a bunch of the “smaller” ones.  And, no, I’m not planning on having a huge Thanksgiving Day celebration, but if I’m cooking a turkey, it will be the largest one I can find.  Turkey salad, open-faced turkey sandwich, cold turkey, bait for cat fishing if I want to pet a stray cat outside, etc.  One can’t have too much turkey.  Absolutely not possible.

New friends I’ve made this year.  Yep, several of them, thanks to my novels.  Amazing how God brings people to us in ways we never imagined.  One, in particular, I’m thankful for.  I just wish she lived someplace other than Canada, because if she lived next door to me, I’m pretty sure we’d be hanging out all the time.  Of course, that might not be a good idea, since Roxx needs to edit and I need to write and/or make masks, so it’s probably a good thing she lives so far away.

Speaking of masks, we’ve passed the 1100 point, so I’m really, really, really thankful the end is in sight.  I’m thinking of turning myself in for violating child labor laws since Ed thinks I stopped maturing at about age 5, although with the cooler temperatures, the craft room isn’t so much like a sweat shop.  Thank God.

A part of the news tonight gave me something else to be thankful for.  They found a dead body on W. Harlan street.  Now, I know that sounds rather harsh to be thankful for that, especially since we don’t know who it is yet, but I am very thankful.  Why?  Because my publisher has the 4^th installment of the Alamo series.  Since she does, I’ll have proof positive that I didn’t make a novel out of today’s crime.  Yep, W. Harlan is featured prominently in the fourth book, which is kind of remarkable considering it’s such a nondescript, not well-known street.  And the crimes appear to be similarly related, although there’s no dead person in mine.  I’d tell you more, but it would give away the book, so no.  I’m just glad enough people have read it that I’ll have witnesses to the fact I didn’t try to capitalize off someone else’s misfortune.  And I also hope they identify the person soon.  Not much worse than not knowing what happened to a loved one.

For 2020, it almost seems like an impossible task to find anything to be thankful for.  But I am a Pollyanna type person, and I can normally find something to be thankful about, even in the worst of times.  As can you.  So, what’s your “I’m thankful” for things?  Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.  And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  You are loved and appreciated.