Rant #1,788: I Am the Turkey

Yes, that is how I feel today.

I am the turkey, already fully stuffed with nothing but negatives.

But I am going to look at the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration as a positive.

It will give me a few days to relax away from my workplace, which is always a good thing, but in a place such as mine, with all the turmoil we are going through there, it is a necessity.

For this holiday, I know how thankful I am about many things--my family first and foremost--and the wonderful things that have happened to me in the past year.

And I pray that I can be thankful about my line of work and my teeth. I hope both situations improve in the coming year.

We are having a small gathering this year, just myself, my wife, our son, and my parents. It should be fun, without the usual pizzaz of past larger Thanksgivings.

I will watch "March of the Wooden Soldiers" again, maybe this year in its original black and white--until the soldiers do their thing, of course.

And I will also continue my job search; I will have the time to do it.

Circumstances being what they are, for today's column, I decided to look back to better and different times, and to what Thanksgiving actually means to me in normal circumstances.

Here is what I wrote, in edited form, back in Rant No. 133, November 18, 2009:

"It is just a few days before Thanksgiving, and I have to admit that I am starting to get the pre-Thanksgiving blues.

I can't wait for this holiday--I am pretty burned out from work lately, and Thanksgiving always serves as a respite from the usual daily cares that I have. And since I get Black Friday off, too, it makes for a nice, tidy, four-day weekend.

Anyway, this Thanksgiving will be a little different for me, because my sister and her family will not be celebrating it with us. My daughter also won't be there.

With my parents in tow, we will have a good gathering."

Have a happy and healthy holiday. Speak to you again on Monday.