It's Thanksgiving again. It's still a bittersweet time (here's what I wrote last year), but I have plenty to be thankful for. A year ago Alexander was a secret, and all we knew was a little mystery called Mini Moo growing inside Lisa. Today, I have a six month old bundle of laughs, cries, smiles and tears (but mostly laughs and smiles) who fills my heart every time he looks at me. And he gets to spend his first Thanksgiving here in America with his grandparents.
My cousins Jordan and Taylor are seventeen and fifteen years old. Yesterday we went to the San Francisco Auto Show and they couldn't understand why the car I most desired just happened to be a midsize family sedan (well, actually, I like the hatch better, but the sedan is the only version available here in the USA). I tried to explain about changing priorities and family responsibilities and other things that preclude the purchase of a US$86,000 two-seat sports car. I also tried to point out that hey, I'm still a car geek, and I did choose the sportiest and most fun-to-drive midsize family car I can realistically expect to afford and fit my family in. I'm not sure if my cousins quite understood where I was coming from (the shiny displays of Mercedes convertibles, Infiniti coupes and zippy little Mini Coopers probably distracted them a bit).
I was fifteen myself when Jordan was born. I remember when he was not much older than Alex is now, and my uncle first brought him over to meet us. Today I sat there looking at Jordan and Taylor and wondered what Alex will be doing in sixteen years' time. Jordan looked at me and wondered if he'd be starting a family of his own in sixteen years' time!
Thanksgiving is still my favourite holiday. The whole point of the day is to get together with family and have a big feast. No worrying about finding gifts or singing songs in public. Just food, and more food, and then some more food (and, yes, if any lunch readers are wondering, dessert is very important at Thanksgiving).
I suppose the turkey loses out, though.
I am thankful for little Alexander. I am thankful for my lovely wife Lisa, and for the way she has been welcomed into my family in America. I am thankful that I enjoy my parents' company (all of them!). I am thankful for how everyone falls in love with Alexander the first time they meet him. I am thankful that I can write about all this, and that I can still learn new and important things when I least expect it.
I hope that Alex has as much to be thankful for when he looks back in so many years.
Happy Thanksgiving.