Thanksgiving

As I’m writing this, it’s the night of Thanksgiving 2020. As one tends to at this time of year, I’ve been thinking a lot during the last few days about things that I’m grateful for. In fact, I find myself thinking more about those things this year than I have in most past years, for whatever reason. And so I’d like to share some of those with whomever is interested in reading (perhaps you). So let us begin.

I am grateful for my family. In particular, I am grateful for my immediate family. Don’t get me wrong; there are many members of my extended family whom I love and whose company I enjoy. But throughout my life, no one has been as close to me as my immediate family. I am grateful to have parents who love me and who love each other. I’m not sure I ever heard an argument between them. There were a few times, certainly, where feelings were hurt unintentionally and apologies had to be made, but I don’t think I ever heard them yell at each other. As far as raising my siblings and me goes, I was never under the illusion that they always knew what to do. In fact, with each child, they seemed to encounter new problems. But they did their best to work together to solve those problems, and they successfully created an environment where each of us felt loved and respected.

As for my siblings, I have been fortunate to have a younger sister and brother with whom I share a good deal of common ground. Our relationships have not been exactly smooth at all times, with the usual fights, teasing, outbursts, and unwelcome intrusions into each other’s lives, but we have managed, throughout the vicissitudes of our youths, to cultivate a close, respectful, and loving relationship. And at the end of the day, I know that I can depend on my siblings for support when I need it. And I think they know the same about each other and about me.

I am grateful for good food. Food has had a place of great importance in my life. The food of my youth was largely Italian and British, but I’ve also grown to appreciate other cuisines–Japanese, Thai, Indian, German, Peruvian… There are, in short, many foods that I enjoy. But there are a few foods that transcend beyond that to being foods that have a particular importance to me. Foods that I feel have enriched my life in something beyond the ordinary.

There are the foods that are the staples of my childhood, of course. Family recipes that are a part of me both physically and psychically. Spaghetti alla carbonara, Yorkshire pudding, Welsh leek soup, cream of mushroom soup, pasta with cream and parmesan, pork veal spaghetti (a recipe made originally with veal but with pork as a replacement), cheesecake, snow cream, lasagna, lemon thyme cookies, chocolate Bavarian cream cake, mom’s pasta surprise, and so on.

Then there are the foods that I discovered later that I found transformative. This is where we have gelato (particularly limone), sushi (particularly things with unagi), butter chicken (most especially from Chillies in Cardiff), bacon-wrapped dates filled with goat cheese (that I was introduced to at Settebello in Salt Lake), and miso soup.

There are also branded foods that I treasure particularly. Sioux City Sarsaparilla goes on this list, as do Jelly Bellies, Lindor Balls, Amano chocolates, lemon Jolly Ranchers (which might not be here were it not for their very scarcity), Rowntree’s blackcurrant pastilles, Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and lemonade, and Altoids.

In a different category are the simple fruits and vegetables that provide flavor with little preparation at all. Fresh tomatoes sliced up with just a bit of salt, ripe, sun-warmed peaches, golden raspberries, lychees, and strawberries.

And in my final food category, something whose absence may already have been noted by those who know me: pizza. So many pizzas have enriched my experience. There are the good, hearty pizzas from places like Joe’s Italian in Moreno Valley, Luigi’s Pizza in River Falls, Route 66 in Orting, Ah, Badda-Bing! in Shelton, and Nicolitalia, Two Jacks, and Fat Daddy’s in Provo. Then there are the deep dish pizzas, thick and heavy, of which my favorite comes from Pizzeria Uno (originally in Chicago but with branches elsewhere). And finally there’s the Neapolitan pizzas, thin, small, but packed with marvelous flavors from places like Settebello in Salt Lake, Brick’s in Hudson, and Punch in the Twin Cities.

I’m grateful for good books. I have read many books in my life, and were I to list all the ones that have left a mark on me, I would be going on for a long time. However, let what follows be a small glimpse into the books that have become a part of my soul.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe

The Dying Earth, Jack Vance

The Corfu Trilogy, Gerald Durrell

The Sacred and the Profane, Mircea Eliade

The Three Investigators books

The works of R.A. Lafferty

Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete, Gene Wolfe

A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. LeGuin

Blue Moose, Daniel Pinkwater

“The Bicentennial Man,” Isaac Asimov

Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury

Women’s Work, Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Doorways in the Sand, Roger Zelazney

The People Stories, Zenna Henderson

Arabel’s Raven, Joan Aiken

A Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England, Ian Mortimer

I’m also grateful for good video games. Like books, there are some video games that have been particularly meaningful or interesting to me. I’ve been very slowly writing a series on this very blog that highlights many of these, but I’m just going to list a few here.

The Suikoden Series

Chrono Trigger

ICO

The Last Guardian

Flower

Katamari Damacy

Spyro the Dragon

Portal

Beyond Zork

Bust-A-Move 2 and 4

Night in the Woods

I’m grateful for fingernail clippers. They act, in my mind, as a perfect example of a simple, ubiquitous invention that has improved our lives in a minor yet tangible way. Wikipedia informs me that it was invented by David Gestetner. This is a man who should be remembered.

I am grateful for places of beauty. I have been privileged to see some great beauty in my life, and I hope to see more. I have spent time both in Britain and in the United States, and there are some places that stick in my mind: a pebbled beach in Wales that I have forgotten the name of, the Grove of the Patriarchs on Mount Rainier, Point Lobos, Joshua Tree National Forest, Ilkley Moor, Saint Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, Tintern Abbey, Mount Snowdon, Goblin Valley in Utah.

I am grateful for my faith. I am grateful for a faith that makes sense of the universe and that doesn’t shy away from tough questions. I am grateful for fellow members of my church who inspire me to be a better person. I am grateful for holy scripture that contains the words of life and healing for the troubled soul. And I am grateful for prayer, for a personal connection to a loving Father in Heaven who, despite his role as creator of the world, knows his children intimately and comforts them in times of need.

I am grateful for and to my friends. If you know me at all well, you probably have reason not to like me. I have probably hurt you at some point, possibly even intentionally. I have likely bored you with the same stories time after time, have irritated you with my aggressive conversational style, and have made you profoundly uncomfortable with something that I have said in a complete lack of social awareness. And yet, there are those among you who have, for some inexplicable reason, found something to value in my companionship and have remained my friends despite my many failings. And if you are one of those people, I thank you, not just for tolerating me generally, but for tolerating my ramblings at this time in particular.

You have my gratitude.