ADDITIONAL THANKSGIVING

In lieu of what is customarily no more than a momentary pause before digging into dinner, I’d like it to be known that I’m more grateful than for anything else I’ve ever experienced or imagined, for having found, married and for sharing my life with a most remarkable person. (For those of you who knew him, I’m not talking about the nearly as remarkable John Wulp.)

I’m thankful that she so enjoys her studio above our kitchen from whence come the most beautiful island landscapes. I’m grateful for the spectacular and widely recognized venue that she has created for us all in the New Era Gallery and thankful for its contributions to the quality of life out here in the Atlantic and to our own wellbeing.

I’m grateful for this magnificent house, for all it requires of us both and affords us in return and for her continuing to make it ever more beautiful, comfortable and accommodating.

I’m grateful for having a wood stove and thankful that I can sit next to it till spring comes each year, eating dinner, playing Scrabble, reading a book or taking a nap.

I’m thankful for having such an attentive personal shopper. 

I’m appreciative of having a precise, neatly made and regularly fresh bed to climb into each night and that she finds rubbing my back there relaxing. 

And I’m grateful that she has become obsessed with making ever more beautiful and delicious loaves of bread

I’m thankful for our daughter Sarah, her husband Chad, and our delightful grandchildren, Finn and Lorilei.

And I delight in our new grandchild and that Kit and Maddie are so enjoying being Archie’s parents.

I’m thankful for my parents and for them having set such a fine example.

And I’m grateful to my Mom for having instilled a long dormant appreciation for English and grammar and that I can now put one word correctly after another.

I’m thankful to live in this neighborhood and to have and enjoy its friends.

I’m grateful for having long ago quit smoking.

I’m thankful that some mysterious foundation continues to pay for a particular medicine I rely on that would otherwise be hard to come by and for my resultant good health.

I’m grateful to be a part of the interesting group of men who comprise our Book Group.

I’m thankful that I was taught to type in high school.

I’m thankful for the role music has played and still plays in my adult life.

I’m grateful for the administrative skills of our Town Manager.

I’m thankful for having discovered my own ancestry.

I’m thankful for having accommodated Attention Deficit Disorder in a fun way. For example, on the highway, I can, by assigning a phonetic equivalent to each letter, and before an approaching vehicle with the license plate ‘VAB984’ has passed from view, determine that its averaged equivalents are ‘H7’.

I’m thankful that I can remember what this village was and what it looked like seventy years ago.

I’m thankful for living in a community where so many others set the bar only high enough for me to reach.

And I’m grateful, as are several relieved others, that I chose to express my thankfulness in this way instead of while holding hands before dinner while others wondered if I’d ever shut up so we could begin eating.