Letter-24...and not quite a whole lot more...sorry, Neil

Thanksgiving was a busy day in Querétaro and as it was a work-day in México with a business meeting in the afternoon. Further, I had dinner plans on the early side since my novia had to get up for her teaching work at O’dark-thirty. Lastly, I had an eight hundred pound gorilla dancing on my head from the day before.

Eight hundred and two, to be exact. I am slogging my through an eight hundred, two page document in Spanish. The barn-burning subject matter can consume pages with a single thought? The systemization of mexican accounting standards to be compatible with international standards and governmental budgeting procedures as well as – not to be overlooked – to be suited for compilation of national economic statistics.

So much for 90% of life…fuhchrissakes.

But Thanksgiving saved the week since it requires at least passing thought to those parts of my life – people, places and things – that give me cause to “rejoice give thanks and sing…” See you next year so I have time to think of them…

En serio, I really have a great deal for which to be happy. Anyone who knows me well also realizes that the past decade has been challenging with a variety of set-backs, many self-imposed but others the inserted by fate.

King David went through a period like this one. Except, I am no King David…shoot. What these times do tell me is that I have been lucky all the same, not because of something mystical like character enrichment – none of that, thank you – but because of other people.

And certain elements of the past that represent gifts that really do keep on giving. So here are my top five things in life for which I thank God – if He is around – or the fates (if they remain spin-meisters) or whomever.

FIRST, my family. My parents are gone but they still set an example, mostly good and always quite overt. My sister, Claire, and her husband, John Purnell, have given me what money can not: god-daughters and a place where I am welcome. Fortunately, my nieces – Mary (elder) and Elizabeth – get along better than two other, more famous sisters, with those names.

There are just too many relatives to go into specifics; each knows why he or she is special. Special atta-girls to my Aunts Nancy and Marion for coming through significant surgeries this year. Also, a great many thanks to John’s “Purnell clan” who has included me in weddings, holidays, etc.; they have taken this orphan on as one of their own.

SECOND, the United States of America. Yes, I lucked out in the social (perhaps genetic) lottery as, I believe, John Rawls dubbed fate. Distributive justice not overlooked, my prayers to our younger brothers and sisters in uniform labouring under immense pressures in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than most others these young people really care for the people they partner with, patrol and protect.

THIRD, two schools: Saint Edmund’s and Choate. I sing the latter’s praises too often; I have been making up for time lost to years of whining. Saint Edmund’s never gets much press. While Choate did much to develop me intellectually and to start thinking about higher qualities like compassion, Saint Edmund’s taught me character and reinforced fledgling study habits. At Saint Edmund’s, I learned it took a bigger man to fail than to cheat; unusual in the hey-day of the Kennedys and Vince Lombardi.

And, yes, I have lived down to that standard more than a few times. Like Mark Tuttle, Tom Yankus, Ed Maddox and Ben Sylvester at Choate, Bob Izod, Sylvia Martin and – of course – Charlie Appel implanted (or, rather, built on) certain values that still mean a great deal. A quick salute to Washington and Lee for drumming its Honor Code into my head; I went there because of General Robert E. Lee. God and General Grant know that I am no Lee, either.

FOURTH, technology. A grudging concession from this curmudgeon weaned off his mother’s breast with the poetic pitfalls of technology raised by Stephen Vincent Benét, Ray Bradbury et al. Yet Facebook has revived old friendships and started new ones, equally cherished. My Aunts, mentioned earlier, and others important to me have overcome illnesses this year through technology. Bravò to the brainiacs who saved them.

FIFTH, two countries: México and Italy. Both peoples sit on a treasure trove of history but wear it like a loose garment. That makes me want to learn more, much more.