Thank You

Life has been rocky over the past year for a number of people I love. (You'll hear their stories should they wish me to divulge them; for the moment, suffice it to say that it seems as if every week brought a new trauma of some sort to somebody.)

I've comparatively cruised through the past year, everyone's events bouncing off me like so many bumper cars. The only ill effect on me personally was an overextension of my steeling muscle, that bit of brainy brawn that cushions against and absorbs shock. Trivial, really, compared to some of the shocks themselves and their effects on the afflicted.

Everyone's still here, as am I, and for that I give thanks.

This is yet another of the several points on the calendar that could have been called New Year's Day. Certainly January 1 seems illogical and arbitrary no matter what stage of life you're in. For kids, the real first day of the new year is the first day of school. For Christians, Easter Sunday represents a new year far more potent than January 1. For farmers, the new year is celebrated with first planting; for financiers, the fiscal year (usually) begins in May.

But this point--Thanksgiving, when we are supposed to express our gratitude for the bounty of the concluded growing season--serves every bit as well as a sort of de facto New Year.

That growing season was somewhat abbreviated in my part of the world. The spring was inordinately cool and wet, the summer delayed, and my in-laws had their first killing frost in mid-September. Snow flurries danced around my dad's place this past weekend. Most people I know have shot Environment Canada the bird. Not me. I'm thankful.

The world economy is, at least temporarily, back from the brink, thanks to trillions upon trillions of dollars thrown at it with seemingly no forethought as to the consequences. For buying that most expensive commodity, Time, I suppose the worldwide financial industry deserves a thank you, too.

On a much more sincere and personal note, thank you to my wife, Eva. Thanksgiving roughly coincides with our anniversary, by design. I'm full of thanks every day for her, but each year I get to commemorate my gratitude for her with a holiday specially named for it.

Thank you to my mom and John, for your steadying influence and comforting presence even though I don't see you near enough. The same can be said for my dad and Heather.

And I'd be remiss without thanking my readers, most of whom I know only through your own blogs. Yet I feel I can count you among my friends, and that's a nice feeling.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.