Giving Thanks

I did not have time to run on Thursday this week -Thanksgiving Day - because Martha and I worked together to prepare dinner for her family.  I walked down the road, however ("working up an appetite" in some fashion was always a tradition in my own family when I was a child), during a brief window of opportunity between putting the turkey breast in the oven and beginning to prepare the casseroles that, in our division of labor, I had volunteered to make.

I thought about all of the times I have been fortunate enough to run on this day in my life.  Like the races I ran when we were visiting my Mom and Dad, starting and ending in downtown Orlando, in three consecutive years - 1996, 1997, and 1998 - one of those years with my young daughter.  And all of the long, glorious runs through those neighborhoods in Raleigh where Martha's grandmother lived in the house in which she was born on Boylan Avenue, lovingly restored since then by her aunt Lizette.

I would run in that triangle between Glenville and Hillsborough and Wade Avenue, and into the campus at N. C. State (I ran around the track one morning), through Cameron Village, wandering in neighborhoods filled with beautiful old homes on sidewalks made treacherous by the upheaving roots of majestic oak and maple trees.  Those were wonderful gatherings we had! - dinner prepared by Lizette.  To this day we marvel that she was able to prepare such a complex meal for so many people while many of us were "underfoot," staying at her house.  She told me recently that she would do it all again, the laughter of the children (all grown up now, many with families of their own), her husband Leon ringing the bell for Salvation Army somewhere nearby while she single-handedly prepared this feast, a gift of love and hospitality.

This day seems filled with nostalgic memories like these, many of them involving getting out of doors to "work up an appetite," enjoying the morning, watching cars park at the curb in those Raleigh neighborhoods as they arrived early for dinner, or competing with other runners in downtown Orlando on uneven brick streets.  I have a lot of wonderful memories for which I am thankful!  As a runner, but also as a husband, father, part of a family.

And today seemed like Thanksgiving Day, too, arriving at Founders Park to find so many of my running friends, chattering about how we needed to burn off all those calories from dressing and gravy, laughing and enjoying a surprisingly balmy morning.  Even better, Martha came running, too, and so I had the pleasure of running a few miles with my Favorite Running Partner, finally back from her injuries, recovered well after our race last Saturday, and looking strong and light on her feet.

Yes, today seemed like a day for giving thanks.  They had already closed off Pine Street for the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Founders Park tonight, and in a little while we will go up to Town and walk around its busy streets, have an early dinner at the Asia House ("anti-turkey"), and join with hundreds of others to watch this simple American tradition of lighting a community tree, surrounded by friends and neighbors.  Giving thanks.