Today I give thanks for our beautiful blue sky.  No matter who or what we are, this blue sky covers us all like a gentle, velvety blanket. 

 

It’s the rainy season in California, yet for the past several days, the rain has been punctuated with entire days of incredible brilliance.  So much brightness that even with sunglasses, I had to borrow a baseball cap to shield my eyes.  A clear reminder that above all the clouds and storms, there is always a blue sky.  We just need to wait patiently for it to reappear. 

 

Is that also true of our present political storms?  While we have little power to stop Nature’s rain, each of us has some control over the storms currently drowning our country with hate and division.  Passively waiting and sitting back, however, just hoping that things will change on their own seems unlikely to bring about a better family, community, or country. 

 

Many of us may not yet have found our path through the present storm, but we will.  We each need to take time to reflect, to plan carefully, and then to join with like-minded people.  And when we do, I pray we find the strength and the courage to push through to those blue skies above us all.

 

Mom, ca. 1967

I was born on the day after Thanksgiving.  My mother swore my arrival was the direct result of the goose she ate for Thanksgiving.  Her own mother, my future grandmother, had come from Iowa several days earlier to help with the birth of her first grandchild.  And for some inexplicable reason, she decided that goose had to be on the menu for Thanksgiving.

Apparently, this particular goose was so rich and fatty that after ingesting a good portion of it, my mother claimed something just had to give.  That something turned out to be me.  Even blessed events, it seems, needn't always be awaited slowly and with patience.  Sometimes they can be speeded up with the right type of elixir.

Yesterday's Thanksgiving elixirs for my own family created a feast of catching catching up, sharing, laughter, and community, all brought together through amazingly simple blends of Indigenous, European, African, and Asian ingredients.  And just like the food on the table, our own family reflects many different cultures, too.  European, Asian, African, and Indigenous.  Ancestors brought together through need, greed, love, and struggle.  May our Thanksgiving feast continue everyday as we celebrate the roots of our families and of our country as a whole!

A Quick Recap of Yesterday's Feast

Indigenous Foods: Turkey, Green Beans, Potatoes, Cranberries, Pumpkin, Pecans, Chocolate

European Foods: Cheeses, Bread, Apples, White Chocolate, Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, Wine

Asian Foods: Sugar, Tea

African Foods: Coffee

IT'S THANKSGIVING & IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Today is my 72nd birthday. Seventy-two years of life on this beautiful land, in this country that I dearly love! Today I find myself so very thankful for my family and friends, the loving communities that surround us, and the country that provides us with the rights and freedoms we all need to grow and flourish. So... Today I begin a series of small writings. 

MY MISSION: To share thankfulness from my daily life. Each day, every day. Hopefully I can honor BOTH my own Pilgrim ancestors and the Haudenosaunee people, on whose land I live. Additionally, I hope that by starting each day in a state of thanksgiving, I will prepare myself to contribute to the work of social justice in whatever way I can.

 In 1620, the Pilgrims gave thanks for their safe arrival and, at the end of their first year, they gave thanks for a successful harvest. For the Haudenosaunee, giving thanks is a daily, ongoing practice that forms the foundation for all aspects of life, including their democratic system of governance, which preceded that of the U.S. by hundreds of years and continues to this day. 

 It sounds so simple, right? Start with thankfulness.  Let me begin… 

Above all else on this Thanksgiving Day, I am truly thankful that the Wampanoag did not kill off my interloper Pilgrim ancestors when, in retrospect, maybe they should have. As the 9th great-granddaughter of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony, I owe my very existence to their generosity.

Today I’m in California, celebrating Thanksgiving and my birthday with my daughter’s family. With us today is my nephew who first uncovered our family’s connection to the Mayflower. This discovery has led me on a difficult journey of re-learning my country’s history, a history filled with as much treachery and destruction as triumph and glory.  It's an educational journey that will take me the remainder of my life.