Thanksgiving, The Letter U and

Letter U...Underwear

I know it is a simple thing but what a fabulous thing. 

Think of life without it. It is functional, practical and at times provocative and arousing. There are tons of reasons for me to be thankful for underwear not the least of which is a propensity to chafe.

Thanksgiving, the Letter T and

Letter T...Teenager

Yes, one of the scariest words in the English language is my entry for today's Thanksgiving alphabet.

I've got one and she is a beauty. My daughter Lindsay is my first born and one of the goofiest, dearest and sweetest souls I know.

Yes I'm biased but it doesn't make me wrong. I know in a blink of an eye she will no longer be a teen. She will be graduated and married and probably a Senator or curing cancer or being an artist or caring for animals out in the world and she will thrive and succeed in a million ways. I also know that she will being doing it all with a kind and gracious heart. An attribute she most obviously got from her Mother.

But for today I've got her and am thankful for the joy she has brought my heart and my soul.

 I love ya Lou!

Thanksgiving, the Letter S and

Letter S...Steven Spielberg

To represent all my favorite movie makers over the years I picked dear old Steven Spielberg. Let's face it. Over my life there hasn't been a bigger name in the movie industry. His breadth and depth of film making is just ridiculous.

I love movies and have my whole life. Much like music, politics, plays and books movies have been more than just a form of my entertainment but of my education and my escapism.

Documentaries, dramas, comedies, war films, shoot-m-up westerns, historical period pieces and the occasional chick-flick all fill the bill.  I love them all and probably a bit too much.

So for this entry to the Thanksgiving Alphabet I give  a few shout outs to some of my favorite Cinema personalities: Spielberg, Frank Capra, Josh Logan, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Gene Kelly, Elia Kazan, Jimmy Cagney, John Huston, Howard Hawkes, Gene Simmons, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Gene Hackman, Joan Allen, and on and on and on and on and on.......

Thanksgiving, the Letter R and Religion

Letter R...Religion

For today's letter I simply say that I am thankful for my religion and all that it brings and offers me. I am at times cynical, short to anger, anxious and angry but my religion and my faith serve as comfort and a steadying force in my life and for that I am thankful.

Thanksgivng, the Letter Q and the Quill

Letter Q...Quill - 

A couple of hundred years ago if I were making a list of things to be thankful for I might be doing it on parchment with a quill pen. Then we get a press then we get a typewriter then we get word processor then we get a PC then we get billions of bits of data going out over the world wide interwebs. It is just mind boggling.

I have studied the history of communications and through everything from the first printing presses to the internet the one constant has been change. What's next? Who the hell knows. To be true there are plenty of folks that think they know. You can watch a hundred TED Talks and hear 100 different new ideas. Guessing correctly is worth a few hundred billion dollars for sure.

All we know is that there will be something new. Facebook will be the old way of getting the word out. Communication evolves and Technology's application to those infinite advancements is exciting to watch. The Chinese proverb says "May you live in interesting times." So on this Thanksgiving Alphabet for the letter Q I am thankful for the Quill and all he advancements and inventions in communication that have followed.

Thanksgiving, the Letter P and Playwrights

Letter P...Playwrights 

I'm going to take some literary license here and expand this category to cover all the authors of plays and novels and history that I have enjoyed over the years. As a child I just did not enjoy reading much to the chagrin of my parents. Thankfully, much to the credit of their example, I found reading later in life. It has been a joy and a comfort to me over the years.  

Twain said "The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage of the man that can't read."  I couldn't agree more.

Here are a few of my favorite authors from different eras and mediums Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, E.L. Doctorow, Larry McMurtry, Neil Simon, Tim Tyson, Tom Clancy, Shakespeare, David Mamet, Jerome Roberts & Robert Evan Lee, David McCullough, Patricia Cornwell, John Grisham, David Ambrose, John Meecham, David Baldacci, Michael Crichton, H.L. Menken ..... Not nearly enough room.

So for today's Thanksgiving Alphabet and the letter P thanks to the Playwrights and all the other wrights for that matter.

Thanksgiving, the Letter O and Orinthological Phalange Extensions

Letter O...Ornithological Phalange Extension 

This is the scientific / biological description of Shooting someone the Bird. I know it is not polite but doggonit sometimes you run across someone who is just enough of a chowderhead to deserve it. The OPE as I like to call it is simple, clear and effective.

So the next time you feel your temperature rising and you feel you are about to say something you'll regret just take a deep breathe, stick out your arm and slowly extend your middle finger.

A picture is worth a thousand words.