When my family was very young, and I was still in seminary in NYC, we had the privilege of heading over to Carnegie Hall for one of the Pete and Arlo shows - and that set in motion a commitment to do something like their gig wherever we were in ministry: Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Sometimes it was small with just 2-3 musicians leading group singing and prayer. At other times it became more like a Prairie Home Companion with a cast of 25+ including poets, rock and rollers, folk singers and everybody in-between. Some 8 years ago, however, the tradition came to a close when a Nor'Easter shut everything down in our parts with a ton of snow. Afterwards, we found a few more opportunities to get some local musicians and poets together, but Thanksgiving Eve died a good and natural death. This year I find I am so grateful for all of that music made with all of those great musicians who became friends over the years. What a blessing. A lot of work but a GREAT blessing.
This year I am keenly aware of a whole truckload of other blessings, too - and it would be wrong not to note them:
(from our first TGE in Pittsfield)
+ I am loved by a precious partner and share an abiding, quiet respect for the life we have crafted together over the years. Through ups and downs, we have found a way to make it work. And I will never be able to express my gratitude for this love.
+ I continue to have a loving and meaningful relationship with the community of L'Arche in Ottawa thanks to the gift of Zoom.
+ I have the chance to continue my small spiritual direction practice, too - and have expanded this to include to a regular Sunday morning live-streaming time of reflection, prayer, and Eucharist @ 9:55 am on Face Book. For the dear friends who join with me: I give thanks to God for you!
+ I am healthy as I age and Di is reasonably healthy, too. Our children and our grandchildren are safe, strong, loving, employed, and filled with gratitude for the simple things of life. We get to see them from time to time - we just walked in the woods with the Brooklyn crew this past weekend - and we will Zoom with others on Friday. This is a joy and I consider it a great gift. My brother, my sisters and their families are all well, safe, and loving, too.
+ Our old dog, Lucie, continues to be her stubborn, goofy and loving self even as she gets stiffer every year with arthritis. She brings smiles, laughs, and her own unique share of woes wherever she goes and keeps us on our toes.
+ Our home is safe, modestly warm, lovely and mostly quiet. We look out on a grand wetlands. And once the ticks are dormant we can hike in the wetlands and woods as we take in the quiet and freedom. I pray I never take this for granted.
+ We have a steady income and adequate health care. That is a blessing too few of my fellow Americans can share these days - and I am humbled that it is true for us. We live in a community with good doctors, decent stores and services and a high degree of physical safety. Again, not a fact of life for many but true in spades for us.
(another TGE in Pittsfield)
+ Our car runs well. The heating bills are manageable. I have a bunch of guitars I can still play reasonably well - and tons of books and music, too. Every day I get to be chief cook and bottle washer learning to roast chickens and acorn squash with maple syrup, cook fresh trout at least once a week, bake bread, prepare shepherd's pie and drink some decent red wine from time to time, too.
+ This Thursday I will be able to spend time with my L'Arche Ottawa colleagues on a Zoom meeting concerning how to rebuild/renew this movement after the Vanier violations were revealed. Later, we'll zoom with the grandchildren. And then feast together in quiet solitude.
We have a lot of profoundly important blessings to return thanks for this year, joys and gifts that I may have once thought small, but now treasure. Thanks be to God.
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