Thanksgiving From Upstairs

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year and it's not even close. It's all that's good in any holiday. No gifts, no real pressure. It's just a day of the four F's! Family, food, football and fun! But maybe the bigger picture is, that few holidays are as pure and provide as much perspective as Thanksgiving. At least for me.

Thanksgiving 1983.

It is one I will never forget. I had just moved to Columbus, and was working at a big county station there. I had to work that morning, and because of reasons I can't fully remember I was going to spend Thanksgiving totally alone - for the first time. I was not home with any family, and being new in town I hadn't made any friends yet. I got home around 11am. It then hit me. It was just me, and the Detroit Lions in the early game and the Dallas Cowboys in the late game. I was young, broke and sitting in my 175 dollar a month apartment by myself. I remember running on adrenaline for a while. My own place, my own couch, control of the TV, but then about the fourth quarter of the Detroit game, it hit me. Thanksgiving alone. No turkey, no nothing.

Then a knock on my door. It was my upstairs neighbor Suzy. I sort-of knew her. We'd see each other in the parking lot, exchange pleasantries. She was 10 years or so older than me. She stopped by to give me a plate of Thanksgiving dinner from her parents house she brought for me. I asked her to stay. She declined saying said she had to go to sleep because she worked third shift. But she saw me leave early that morning and was worried I was going to be alone. Bless her. To this day, I never learned Suzy's last name, as she moved out a few weeks later.

As a young adult, it was among the first times I remember another adult really doing something really nice for me. The food was great, and so was her thoughtfulness. I was so excited I actually drank 2 Pepsi's that day as a treat. I was so poor, I rationed myself to only one per day. It fact may sound so silly to some given today's world, but then the whole thing was a big deal to me. It's been almost 30 years, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Not much can make me well up and get slightly boo-hooey. But this memory can.

I grew up a bunch that afternoon between Detroit and Dallas. I learned that there are some really nice people in the world that do great things just because. Also, that tough days, no matter how tough yield to better ones..not just once ..but always. Plus, I learned that I better up my game, and that the people I was going to be in contact with from here on in as an adult were exactly that - adult.

It was the year that Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday, when actually I was on my way to loathing it an hour earlier. I learned that day that Thanksgiving is aptly named. A day for thanks....and a day for giving.

God bless you Suzy.....wherever you are.....Just bless you......