Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Friends, food, and football-what a great mix.
I'll be spending the day at a potluck with my friends, our annual gathering of "orphans" who aren't spending the day with family. It's an odd, multi-generational, funny group.
My own family is small and scattered, and we haven't spent Thanksgiving together in over a decade. It traces back to when my Father passed away (on the day before Thanksgiving). Dad was a traditionalist, and took great joy in family gatherings. After his passing, the bonds between the rest of the family loosened. My mother has created a whole new life for herself, and is now way too busy to host a holiday gathering. While I get along well enough with both my sisters, we have nothing in common and little desire to spend much time together. Both of my sisters are republican, fundamentalist Christians, yuppie parents who are caught up in the materialistic side of America that I have rejected. We lack any common basis for conversation, and yet love each other too much to argue. So we'll exchange phone calls and wish each other well. It works well enough for us.
I'll take this opportunity to express my gratitude for a multitude of good thing. I'm grateful for all my friends (and I'm truly blessed to have so many of them). I'm thankful for reasonably good health and happiness (the shrub administration hasn't taken that away). I give thanks that my family still shares love in spite of our divisions.
And thanks to you readers and commenter's. You've given me a lot of pleasure in this humble little blog, and I feel like I've gotten to know many of you even though we've never met. Thanks!
Update: in the words of Zymurgian: "Great Googly-Moogly, that was GOOD".