Thanksgiving

The holiday is a bit redundant for me, as I feel grateful and give thanks each day. I guess I'm just wired that way. I remember being thrilled in kindergarten when my mother bought me McDonald's hamburgers.

Still, last night I sat at my kitchen table with both Ds. The three of us had returned from visiting ancient Mom, and D1 decided to spend the night here.

Wifey sat across the room at a computer. The Ds watched humorous videos on YouTube. They giggled, and occasionally guffawed. My girls' laughter is by far my favorite sound in the world.

Wifey, as usual on about a 5 second delay, kept demanding to know what was so funny. Of course, her asking on her delay was what was so funny, so we all laughed some more.

At one point, the Ds looked up from the laptop and saw me staring at them. D1 said to D2 "Look at Dad." Then they hugged me.

If there's more than that to be thankful for --I can't imagine what it is.

It's 8 am, and all of them are sleeping --both Ds in D2's bed, like when they were little girls.

To paraphrase Yeats, they shall arise and go, and go to Key Biscayne. We're headed to the Ritz Carlton for their T Day brunch, which, after last year, we've decided to make our tradition.

I'll think of my friend Todd's proper funmaking of my blog, and how I write about going on lavish trips and to fine restaurants. He's right.

But, hey --I'm a rich white guy! What can I say? The Republicans just won big in Congress and here in Florida. Rich white guys are COOL again!

The truth is, for most of my childhood, I was solidly middle class. During grad school and in the years right after, I probably dropped a bit to somewhat lower middle class. At 25, when I graduated UM Law, I had a net worth of minus $30 thousand.

I found a rich girlfriend ( her net worth when we married was a positive $7 thousand) and off we went.

At Thanksgiving 1986, I was EXTREMELY thankful. I had passed the Bar Exam, and I therefore wouldn't be fired by my first boss, despite his rabid anti semitism. He needed me to attend hearings, and "relate to the Jew Claims Manager from NY." He used to warn me to count my fingers after shaking Stu's hand, since, "You can never trust those people." Ha. Dan. I was even thankful for him --he DID pay me $28 thousand per year, though he despised my essence."

By Thanksgiving of 1989, Wifey and I had D1! And then 3 years later, although we lost our house and most of our stuff in Hurrican Andrew, we had D2 as well.

And it just got better and better. D2 turns 22 on Saturday. D1 is thriving as a UF freshman. I've given up the daily grind of lawyering.

So here, on Thanksgiving 2010, sits the most blessed, lucky, and thankful man in the world.