(In this edited version of my newspaper column, I recall a Thanksgiving when COVID ran rampant.)
Have your children or grandchildren watched “Sesame Street’s” Oscar the Grouch? I worried, lest my offspring adopt him as their patron saint.
Fast-forward to 2020. Thankfully, my children don’t live in trash cans. Nor is Oscar their role model.
I, on the other hand, sound more like Oscar every day. So, this Thanksgiving, I choose to be grateful, even for weird things.
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the following:
- I don’t have to mask when I talk with You.
- Because of COVID-19, I rarely try on clothes in stores. No multiple mirrors!
- Squirrels playing nut-soccer on our roof don’t weigh 400 pounds.
- Delivery drivers bring life’s necessities — like apple cinnamon air freshener and SunChips® — to our doors.
- Potholders that aid in taking golden turkeys from the oven have not, unlike everything else, gone digital. I haven’t had to recharge one yet.
- Not all gas pumps show videos.
I also thank You that my husband has never, ever refused to open a pickle jar.
- We use clean water I didn’t haul a mile.
- Though some idiots — er, futurists — drool over human interfacing with technology, my Internet still has an off button.
- Leaves filling my yard are not poison ivy.
- I rarely worry about charging hippopotamuses.
Thank You, too, God, for pie. Any kind but mince.
- Also for the fact no one has written or performed “Medicare Supplements: the Musical.”
- For the color periwinkle.
- For the rustle and fragrance of a real book that keeps me up late.
- For phone calls from Little Brother. When I was a teen with a boyfriend, and he a brat with mirrors, I wished him 2,000 miles away. Eventually, my wish came true. Now, I cherish the bittersweet joy of hearing his voice.
Finally, Lord, I’m thankful for my two-year-old grandson who sings in the night.
You hear that, Oscar? Probably not, as you have clapped your trash can lid on tight.
Stay there, if you want. But if you change your mind, gratitude’s an excellent antidote for grouchiness.
Even for you, Oscar.
Even for me, this Thanksgiving of 2020.
Your Extraordinary Ordinary: For which aspects of COVID’s wane are you thankful?