GIVING THANKS

In a world where noise drowns out the music, the news is so dark and dismal it brings you to your knees, and the suffering of our fellow human beings, animals, and the planet itself is so intense, it is hard to find things to be thankful for. And yet, they are all around us. And like the air we breathe, we take them for granted. But not on Thanksgiving Day. It is the day to deny the darkness and celebrate the light.
On Thanksgiving Day, I celebrate sunshine, blue skies, wind in the willow down by the pond, and the abundance of small and large wild creatures that call my back field and woods home. I celebrate green grass in the summer and a rainbow of leaves in fall. I celebrate the miracle of snowflakes and the crunch of snow beneath my boots in winter, and the bounty of buds that populate my trees and flowers in springtime. Thanksgiving Day, I celebrate the seasons.
I celebrate the gift of poetry, of books, of stories that take me from my comfy chair to places I could never have imagined; jungles and outer space, the future, and the past, and into the hearts and souls of people I know only through words penned with passion and purpose onto the page. I am grateful for the gift of writing poetry, which came to me as a young child and has endured throughout all the years, all the tears, all the laughter, and all the heartbreak. I am grateful that the writing of my poems lifts me up when I am down, keeps the darkness at bay and shines a light on that place where I hide, even from myself.
I am grateful for all the places I have been to and all the people I have met along the way. I am grateful for Ireland, where I found a connection to the earth deeper than any I had ever known before. And a place where I met people kinder, gentler, friendlier than I had ever met before. I am grateful to the steep snow-covered hills of Colorado where I learned to conquer my fears and become my own hero, maneuvering my way down the mountain on skies, despite the terror in my heart. I am grateful for every hike in deep forests and across deserts, for every bike ride through endless miles of beauty and wonder, for every breathtaking sail across the water, and for every time I thought I couldn’t and then, did!
I am grateful for the family that lives now, only in my memory. A father who instilled in me a love for poetry, and all things creative. A mother who taught me the fun of fashion and fun and, that despite others ‘doubts, being me was who I needed to be. A sister who taught me what strength and endurance and grit and sheer power of will, could accomplish. I am grateful for my beautiful, gentle Grandma Lizzie and my quiet, candy dispensing Grandpa Joe. We are who, and where, we come from, and I came from good rich soil and, because of that, was able to grow strong and resilient.
But most of all and best of all, I am grateful and beyond thankful, for my incredible family. Grateful for a husband who has stood with me, by me, behind me pushing me forward, beneath me lifting me up, believing in me, loving me, providing me with a beautiful life, filled with fun and adventure, consolation in times of sorrow and patience when darkness threatened to engulf me. I am grateful, joyfully thankful for my children, who were a gift beyond what the heart hoped for or, for that matter, deserved. They are bright and kind and brave and generous of spirit. They work hard for themselves and for their beautiful families and give back to their communities and the world around them, and beyond them. I am ecstatically grateful for the beautiful grandchildren (7 – six girls and one boy) they gifted me with. A gift so grand, I would never have dreamed it and now, could not live without it.
And finally, I am grateful that whatever powers may be, put me in me. For all the tears shed, the fears that shook me to the core, the doubts, the darkness, there is no one else I would have rather been. I am me, for all my faults and foibles, my failures and frustrations, and my inability to do all that I would have liked to do, be all that I hoped I could be, and change all the things I had wanted to change. But “thankfulness” and “gratitude” are to be applied to what is, not to what might have been. And what has been the substance of my life, has been both bountiful and beautiful and I offer on this day, to everything and everyone who has been a part of my days, my heartfelt gratitude. I lift my glass and toast, this day, this meaningful day that reminds us that there is, in the end, much to be thankful for…

I Am Thankful For
the fact that I
came to be
me
that time
uncurled
like leaves in spring
bringing birth and beauty
to an unlit earth
chasing shadows lurking in the dark
corners of a fading winter
sparking a radiance that warmed
long summer days
for sun
for rain for wind
for storm and then
its aftermath the silence
of a star dense night
shivering with light
shimmering within itself
consumed and then again
reborn

I am thankful
for each breath that calibrates
the days the many ways
my heart sings to itself
or cries the surging joy
of laughter loves
overwhelming rise
the shift
from wrong to right
blindness to sight
desire to delight

I am grateful for the faces
places time spent doing
and the time I wasted for
each day each hour
every second was
a gift of something
I have yet to fully understand

thankful for
this fleeting life that like
a snowflake settling
in the palm of your hand
melts and is gone
almost
before it began…

Susan A. Katz (All rights reserved)

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