Thanksgiving has never been my holiday. Too much emphasis on food and social gluttony, not enough focus on the radical notion of actually being thankful.
This year has been different.
While many have reached out asking for an address to send me holiday cards, there hasn't been anything to make me feel like Thanksgiving is anything more than a day Christmas ate before it took a deep bite out of Halloween.
Still, I found a journal outside my front door just as a friend texted me about the status of my Patreon. (More on that in the very near future!) This wasn't raw coincidence, since he'd been tracking the package. Seems like I need to get into journaling and/or drawing more often.
When I was doing some retail work the day before Thanksgiving, a trio of LDS missionaries each bought something from me. They all had the same icebreaker questions ready to go, which was fine--except I answered the first guy. We all had a nice laugh by the time the third stepped up.
More than that, these three guys were just glad to share what kindness they could with the world--without intruding on anyone's holiday. They all elected to spend the next day making cookies to share with friends. I wished them luck, having enjoyed a nice interaction with three thoughtful young men.
I saw that same trio two days later. They'd come back to the store I was working at, this time with this bag in hand:
They remembered me.
I shook each of their hands, blown away by this act of generosity. No one's ever come to me in such a way before, especially not at Thanksgiving.
So I'm thankful to them, for them, and for anyone so kind as to inject a little more joy into the world.