1. What made you feel patriotic this year? Watching this young man stand tall by not apologizing for kneeling. The President of the United States took him on, and he didn't back down. When it comes to free speech, in this country we are all equal, and that makes me so proud.
2 . What do you value most about your life? My independence
3. What do you appreciate about your friendships Acceptance and accessibility
4. Name one person who can make you laugh, even months later. Why? My oldest friend. She and I share a sense of the absurd. I've laughed the longest, the loudest and the most often with her.
5. What is the funniest thing you remember about a Thanksgiving past? I'm sorry, but nothing comes to mind.
6. Do you have any unusual traditions, rituals or habits around Thanksgiving? As an adjunct to #5, Thanksgiving with my family was always stressful. Guilt was the main dish, served with ladles of resentment. While I am sorry that my family never enjoyed a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving, I do not miss those gettogethers.
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| See these happy people? They are not my relatives. |
7. Name one ancestor that you think about on Thanksgiving and tell us why. My nice grandma made the best rolls from scratch. And she refrained from martyrdom about how hard she worked on the meal. I wish we had spent more holidays with her and fewer with my icky grandma.
8. Is there a family heirloom at the Thanksgiving table? What its story? No heirlooms.
9. What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving Day? Delicious food, and lots of it.
10. What random act of kindness did you perform or that was done to you this year that makes you feel grateful? On Valentine's Day I encountered a kind young man I never saw again. He worked in the coffee shop at the auditorium where my movie group meets. I ordered a hot chocolate and he made a milky heart with the foam. Then, as I went in to watch the movie, I had trouble with the lid and splashed the cocoa all over the place, including on his book. He was studying The Book of Psalms.
I apologized. He was kind enough to show me the inside of the book. "Look, the pages are all fine! It's for reading, not for show, so don't worry about it!" As I tried to help him mop up, he looked me square in the eye and said with great seriousness, "I've already forgiven you. Now you have to forgive yourself." What a dear, sensitive young man.
11. What do you appreciate about the change of seasons? The difference in the trees. I love watching the trees go from leafy green, to colorful, to bare branched, and then back again. I feel so fortunate to live in Chicagoland, where we have four distinct seasons.
12. Name five things that make you happy about today.
• My cat Reynaldo let me sleep in
• Reynaldo has also been a very good, very affectionate boy this morning
• My girlcat, Connie, is happy and healthy, too
• I'm getting a fresh pedi this afternoon
• I just ordered tickets to see a play with my friend Barb on 11/27.
13. How has the celebration of Thanksgiving today changed from when you were little? Now I celebrate with my friends instead of my relatives.
14. If you could share Thanksgiving dinner today with one person in history who would it be? Why? (Note: it can be a relative) My mom. I'd love to spend time with her again, just the two of us.
15. What is one wish you have for the next generation as they begin to establish their own Thanksgiving traditions.
