Thanksgiving 2020

When my family gathers for our annual Thanksgiving dinner each year in New Jersey, we typically go around the table and say what we're thankful for. Most of the remarks have to do with having made it through one more year with good health (or, in a few instances, having survived bouts of ill health) and being grateful to be celebrating together. I imagine many families across the United States perform a similar litany.

This year is different in so many ways, and not just for my family. We will not gather around the same table. Some won't gather at all. In so many ways this has been a year of things not to be thankful for. Although there is some cause for optimism—vaccines soon to be available, new leadership in Washington—I'm experiencing so much pessimism about so many things. I'm really struggling to feel thankful today.

But I am going to try. Here are some things I am thankful for:

• My family and close friends have, so far, remained healthy. While there has been a lot of tragedy around the world and it has touched many families, so far it has spared me and the people I care about most.
• Before the coronavirus disrupted our lives, I was able to visit Cuba and learn first hand about a culture so different from any I've experienced before.
• I also got to visit the Pueblo Mágico of Pátzcuaro, the beautiful city of Morelia, and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in eastern Michoacán.
• Although I had to cancel my planned trip this fall, I can look forward to visiting Turkey, Jordan, and Israel next fall.
• I live in a beautiful place with lovely people, have made many new friends, and have continued to enjoy life here in spite of the pandemic.
• I added a very sweet dog to my household, and she is a true delight.
• I have many old friends from all the places I have lived with whom I remain in touch.
• Zoom. 
• I have enjoyed playing bridge online after our bridge club was forced to close for a while.
• I was honored to be named ACBL Goodwill Member of the Year for 2021, and I am so appreciative of the Board members from Unit 205 for nominating me.
• The United States will soon have its first woman vice-president.
• So many courageous Americans have stood up for democracy, equality, and justice in a time when those fundamental principles were under attack in the United States. I am proud of my friends and family who worked to make a difference and end the worst presidential administration in our nation's history. I hold out hope that, as Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

I hope everyone reading this is able to find much to be thankful for and optimistic about at this time of Thanksgiving. And for those who are not, please know you can reach out to me any time for comfort, laughter, and an ear to bend.

Happy Thanksgiving!