Festival of Plenty

Thankful for bubblegum and vanilla ice cream, sweet flavors of life that stick with me and make me feel like a kid. All over again.

Thankful for nicely stacked piles of leaves that beg me to scatter them to the wind and swirl in their brilliance.

Thankful for raisins in my morning bread and kugel steaming fresh when it comes from the oven. And recipes and traditions and stories spanning oceans that decorate our tables.

Thankful for a mom ז״ל who left a legacy of goodness by being her Self. Who lived justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with her God.

Thankful for mystifying fog, sunshine bringing laughter, and rain that makes the warm dark earth sing of April’s flowers and postponed dreams.

Thankful for the coming winter granting grace to reflect on all life’s cycles, teaching me the balance of our days. The beauty of snow, pain of ice, and focus of morning belong to the spring that is becoming.

Thankful for teachers who open eyes and friends who open hearts. For books and memories and reminiscences pointing us to courage in times of danger.

Thankful for songs to sing. And poems to inhale. Essays to digest. For searching for questions behind my questions, for arguments writ small in the margins. For Shel Silverstein and Isaac Babel whose words birth poetry more profound than prose and prose that sings a prayer.

Thankful for my Rabbi who is a friend. For community priceless beyond words.

Thankful for Silly Putty, soap bubbles, and sailboats made of bars of Ivory. For Slinkies, Beanie Babies, and Rubik’s Cubes. For people around me who remain child-like enough to enjoy these toys forever.

Thankful for Horned Frogs who rarely win a football game, and for Eagles who know how to win. And for athletes and celebrities who have figured out that life is more than just a game and who make our world a better place.

Thankful for the ever-changing beauty of this Pennsylvania valley. For hay fields freshly mown, corn fields plowed under, and leafless trees lifting desolate branches skyward. For rugged hillsides and sparkling streams, covered bridges and curving roads. For battlefields past and present, for strong words we need to hear all over again – a new birth of freedom.

Thankful for survivors who hold on to their Nie Wieder [Never Again]. For those who scrap and stand firm in the face of historians who would repaint the truth. For all who fight for justice for the oppressed, the righteous among us whose eyes are fixed on justice.

Thankful for America, where a swastika mostly still evokes an outcry and destruction of a synagogue brings a town together to rebuild. Hopeful for an America where a swastika will once again always evoke an outcry.

Thankful for the hope of peace, our time to live, a challenge to meet. For the land of milk and honey that can be.

Thankful to be alive – despite worry, stress, disappointment, sickness, sorrow, and all that makes me anxious – thankful for bubblegum and vanilla ice cream, Rabbi and Mom, books and poetry, April and December.

Serious note: If you know people in your community who are struggling this Thanksgiving--or any day of the year--please do something. Even if your own resources are limited, do something.

I keep coming back to this essay because I wrote it at a time when things were very, very difficult. The people who cared about me then, mean a great deal to me now. Be that person for someone in your circle. Or outside it.

COMMENT WORTH KEEPING

I just saw (and read) this. The cute cat picture brought me back to center, though. 🐾💖🐾

--Gwen Miertschin, January 17, 2025.

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Image credits: Shopify, public domain for platform users. Bottom photograph is for Gwen and Clare.

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