The Great Thanksgiving

Back in the day–when I walked uphill two miles both ways and wrote blogs on a regular basis–I felt less pressure to say something profound when I started a blog post, such as:

“Hi, Readers. It realize it’s been 99 days since I last posted a blog, but I’ve been waiting until this very moment to say…”

or

“I know I glossed over some bigger moments this year, like a month-long birthday celebration in Greece that I dubbed ’33 on Thassos’ and for which I sent out save-the-dates in May of 2018…”

or

“You may have noticed from all of my Instagram pictures of pasta that I was in Italy last month, on a weeklong trip to Tuscany to get feedback on my book manuscript (yes, BOOK MANUSCRIPT)…”

or

“Here are some of the ways Jesus Christ and Jenny Currier, though both initialed JC, are actually quite different at the age of 33 (and other recent life ponderings)”

but alas, here we are and I don’t know how to start this Thanksgiving Day blog.

Yes, I realize I haven’t blogged in 99 days. Yes, I realize I have yet to write about 33 on Thassos, and my trip to Crete, and my trip to Italy, and give an update on my year of writing, etc.

Although I have no excuse for waiting so long, I will say that one thing that has kept me from blogging more often is the ridiculous literary rule that if you’ve published something before, even on your own blog, you may not submit it for consideration for a journal/website/magazine.

Really? I mean REALLY?

Who’s going to pick up Agni* and see my story about a Donkey Bridge and think: “Hmm. This sounds familiar. You know, I believe I read this on Fushilou’s blog before and therefore I refuse to read it now! What a waste! I demand my money back, lest Agni come up with new and original material!”

*this is a real lit mag, which is short for “literary magazine,” which is short for “something no one reads except when trying to figure out what they accept for publication”

Nevertheless, in my year of questing to be a writer, I got it in my head that I ought to save my energy for “real” publications (shockingly, my blog is not among them), and I was hesitant to post a story that I thought I might want to submit elsewhere.

But Thanksgiving Day seems like as good a day as any to BURST FORTH onto my blog again, like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon, like the universe being born, like Tina Turner dancing to the chorus of “Proud Mary.”

So here we are. I’m dressed in a bathrobe at 12pm on a designated family-feasting holiday, and these are the things I’d like to share with you.

TRANSPIRING THOUGHTS ON THANKSGIVING DAY

1. Eucharist. 

This word was mentioned in my Day by Day devotional. The word we use for communion, Jesus’ body and blood–also known as THE GREAT THANKSGIVING–comes from the Greek word that literally means “Thanks.”**

**It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time, on the magnitude of several months, after learning the word “thank you” in Greek to make the association that — ευχαριστώ — or “efharisto” or, in some spellings, eucharisto, was the word from which we got Eucharist.

But TODAY it occurred to me for the first time that the prefix eu- (which means good) precedes -charis (χάρις), which means grace.

eu + charis = GOOD GRACE.

This may not strike any of you as groundbreaking, but I have had the song “Good Grace,”*** stuck in my head for two weeks. I don’t know what God is trying to tell me, but I felt like this was a connection! Look, Ma. Relevance!

***I have linked the acoustic version, which I like best – and I’ve listened to it so much I’ve even gotten over the bad grammar (“don’t fear no evil…” -ack. Okay, I’m over it as long as I don’t have to see it written down).

2. I’m looking forward to hummus and wine.

I’m calling it a low-key night. Who needs turkey and stuffing and pie? I eat enough on a regular basis that a holiday devoted to extravagant indulgence is better avoided. A normal Tuesday night is enough for me. (Just ask the tub of ice cream I devoured two nights ago.****

****I would tell you what brand it was, but every time I write about my favorite ice cream (or gum flavor) it becomes discontinued. I will not succumb to your web of evil, Lucifer. 

3. I hate the wind.

This is a little anti-Thanksgiving, but the wind is really ruining my plans to go for a run right now. Have you ever felt the urge to karate chop the air as it blows gale force into your face and makes it difficult to breath or see or move in a forward trajectory? I’m having visions of my future. Even the sound of the wind, aggressively whooshing past my window, makes me recoil in disgust. That high pitched whistle, the rattle of the house. It’s worse to me than nails on a chalkboard.

(Am I having traumatic associations due to a New Mexican upbringing? The land of dirt storms and tennis cancelled due to “wind”?)

4. Thank you and you and you and you.

Despite my wind rant, I am actually so thankful on this day, for what this year has been, for where I’ve gone, for my friends and family and all-the-things. (THE WIND IS DOING THE AGGRESSIVE WHIPPING AGAIN. Can’t it just “be still”? Wind, I hate youuuuuu.) Where was I? Oh yes, gratitude. I have it. Let’s move on.

5. Mimi-Smartypants really is funny.

She’s the writer who first introduced me to the concept of blogging and why, I believe, I used to be funny. Going to Greece made me tragically sad and henceforth attempt writing about matters of depth, but I don’t know if that’s really me. I think I’m better at bad jokes. In any event, Mimi Smartypants transcribed an instant messaging conversation between herself and a coworker about a 1615 book called A New Booke of Cookerie, and gems like, “Then work it stiffe like a pudding, and cram it in againe” –speaking of a swan dish– had me giggling uncontrollably.

mimi: “To make an Vmble Pye, or for want of Vmbles to doe it with a Lambes head and Purtenance.”
mimi: WTF? I can’t decipher that one.
tom: Humble? Umble. Vmble.
mini: I thought humble pie had no meat, though. If you have no humble, use a lamb’s head?
tom: and purtenance.

I’ll leave you with that thought. In case your Thanksgiving turkey didn’t turn out as well as you’d hoped, maybe next time consider working it stiffe like a pudding, and cram it in againe?

Just a thought.

Happy Thanksgiving 🙂