What Do Thanksgiving, Easter, Pentecost, Memorial ...

What do Thanksgiving, Easter, Pentecost, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc. have in common?

They are all holidays which fall not on a specific date, like, December 25 or July 4, but they fall on the “first Monday”, “fourth Thursday”, “fifty days after….”

You see what I mean?

Thanksgiving Day has a special significance to me…

Can’t remember the exact date, but I do remember the year was 1995.

I remember everyone who was there.

My grandparents, parents, sister, Prudence, Laura, me, my friend and next door neighbor, David and Abdi Mohammed (a Somali immigrant I was working with at that time).

Before dinner we went around the table and said what we were grateful for.

I went last. I set it up…

I was grateful for my friend Laura and I commenced by asking her to marry me.

I was more grateful than ever when she said, “Yes.”

I am still thankful for Laura.

We don’t always see eye to eye. She is shorter than me.

Besides, how boring would it be if she were always right like me?

She has a mind of her own.

Her life was going pretty good without me and I am glad I am not the center of it.

I couldn’t take the pressure.

We have 4 (might as well say 5) children and I couldn’t be more grateful for the experience of knowing Laura, blending our families together and creating our own.

Of course, there are many, many things that I am grateful for, there wouldn’t be enough time to cover them all…