Attitude of Gratitude

Something for which i am grateful on this US Thanksgiving Day is that i still wake up to get notes like this one from #2 Son:

Hey, mom, I need to use the van around 10:00am if possible.  Also, I lost my phone so could you try to wake me up around 9:45 if you can, thanks.  P.S. I'll be in the tent with Festus.  P.P.S. Never mind, it got too cold, I'm in my room, and Festus is on the couch.

A second thing is that #1 Son is back in town, and i am grateful he's planning to go back to school.  He has actually wormed his way back into living in the garage room, and it's good that he is here and has a job.

Third, Bigger Girl is still coming up with her unique, and sometimes wacky and weird, takes on life, and i'm grateful to be hearing such things as "It's a crime to donate high heels to the thrift store!  It's safer to ride a Clydesdale bareback than to wear them!"

A fourth item of gratitude is for Little Girl.  She is 15, and just finished the driving portion of Driver's Ed.  She was such a good driver, being so careful and doing so well, they passed her early!

Sweetie and i still haven't killed each other after over 28 years, and we are both grateful for that. (Insert crazy grin here, because we make each other nuts, but that's another story.)

Grandma and Grandpa are still with us, and i am over the moon about that.  So many people my age don't have their parents around.

There's a lot more, too many things to list.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Remember that being grateful makes you smile, and when you smile, you are beautiful.

 

Today is:

Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha -- Baha'i

Daytona Turkey Run -- Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL, US (collector car show, swap meet, and craft sale; through Sunday)

Decorate Your Dog Day -- supposedly to get him/her into the holiday spirit; but please, don't

Feast of the Holy Sovereigns -- Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii (in honor of King Kamehama IV and Queen Emma, the founders of the Anglican Church of Hawaii

Flag Day -- Kosovo

Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia -- Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, VA, US (exploring the 17th- and 18th-century culinary practices of Virginia; through Saturday)

Hanukkah -- Judaism (began sundown yesterday; through sundown Dec. 5)

Independence Day -- Albania(1912); East Timor(1975); Mauritania(1960)

Make Your Own Head Day -- meaning an art project model or drawing, in any medium; have fun with this one!

National Family History Day -- US (a call from the Department of Health and Human Services to get info about your family, especially health history, while everyone is together for the holiday)

National French Toast Day

Red Planet Day -- on the anniversary of the 1964 liftoff of Mariner 4, the first successful mission to Mars

Republic Day -- Chad; Republic of the Congo

Royal Society Day -- one of the world's oldest scientific academies, established this day in 1660

Runic Half Month of Is begins (stasis)

Saint Catherine Laboure's Day -- promulgator of the Miraculous Medal

St. Stephen the Younger's Day` (Patron of coin collectors, numismatists, smelters)

Thanksgiving Day -- Interfaith, US and Territories

Turkey-Free Thanksgiving -- sponsored by the Vegetarian Awareness Network



Birthdays Today:

Anna Nicole Smith, 1967
Jon Stewart, 1962
Judd Nelson, 1959
Ed Harris, 1950
Alexander Godunov, 1949
Paul Shaffer, 1949
Joe Dante, 1946
Randy Newman, 1943
Berry Gordy, Jr., 1929
Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1908
Brooks Atkinson, 1894
William Blake, 1757
John Bunyan, 1628


Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Hopalong Cassidy"(TV), 1948
Skywriting(as an advertising medium), 1922*



Today in History:

Skanderbeg and his forces liberate Kruja in Middle Albania and raise the Albanian flag, 1443
Ferdinand Magellan and his men become the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean, 1520
The Times in London is for the first time printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer, signaling the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience, 1814
Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day - The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation, 1843
Women vote in a national election for the first time in the New Zealand general election, 1893
US-born Lady Astor becomes the first female member of British Parliament, 1919
*Capt Cyril Turner of the RAF gives 1st skywriting exhibition in NYC; Turner spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." 47,000 called, 1922
The first Polaroid Camera is sold, 1948
Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community, 1958
The first pulsar star is discovered by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish, 1968
Norway votes against joining the European Union, 1994
Wikileaks releases 250,000 classified documents and sensitive national security information sent by U.S. embassies, 2010