Once again it rolls around.
As a child I remember turning on the television and watching the parades and imagining that I was part of the festivities...the floats and such. Giving thanks that I didn't have to go to school. Hoping it would be warm enough to run around the yard playing guns and army with my friends. Big meal, cake, ice cream, visiting cousins...I loved Thanksgiving and I was thankful.
Later it simplfied, turning into a day of pigging out, eating as much as I could hold, watching football and drinking beer. Telling lies, bragging, and drinking more beer. Wives sitting around laughing at their husbands, their kids running and playing as I used to. History repeating itself. And if I was lucky, I would get lucky that evening...and normally did. I was thankful.
Now, much later in life, hearing going bad, it is hard to enjoy a good football game, and it is just a game and I observe it from afar rather than being part of the experience. Parades on tv are a channel I skip over as I look for anything besides infomercials to pass the time, usually ending up on the weather channel. Friends are gone or dead, no family to speak of, or none that cares. I live on limited income with little prospect for the future. The economy of the state going down the tubes, and the nation is following. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The sour taste of discontent has become fixed in my mouth where I used to have teeth...I live from day to day, and Thanksgiving is just another in series of them.
In retrospect, I guess I'm grateful that I don't have to wear adult diapers yet....but that's about it.
