I am thankful for:

• A spacious kitchen, properly outfitted with a gas stove and dishwasher
• My wife’s superior cooking talents (I helped…fun in the kitchen)
  • Green bean casserole
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Cranberry apricot sauce
  • Herbacious gravy
  • Traditional turkey
  • Dinner Rolls
  • Pink bubbles
  • Beaujolais
  • Maple pecan pie with bourbon whipped cream
• A satisfying twelve-year (yikes!) in prospect research that brought me back to my favorite city
• Snow! On Thanksgiving morning. Our first snow since moving back to the Midwest
• NPR and Third Coast Radio documentaries, especially The Ground We Lived On
• Sam Cooke
• Thanksgiving memories from my youth
• The Wizard of Oz
• Public libraries
• My great good fortune and health
• Family and friends
• Forgiveness and unconditional love
• The hard work of reconciliation, faith and hope