Guest columnist
The last Thursday in November is a welcome break from our hectic lives. It's an opportunity to spend time with family and reflect on what is important to us.
Every year, my grandmother is convinced the turkey is under-cooked and will "kill the children," so we cook it until all flavor and moisture are soundly gone and my younger cousins are too worn out from fighting to whine any longer. However, by the time we're all either in our seats at the table or in the corner on a time-out, we start to share our thanks for the year behind us. It's a nice, albeit brief, chance to look back on what matters to me and what happened this year.
The downside of Thanksgiving though, is also its appeal: novelty. Much like Halloween, snow in Durham, and the Troika Music Festival, Thanksgiving only comes once a year and is exciting in its infrequency.
As far as I can tell, the difference between Thanksgiving and New Year's customs is the level of follow-through. Thanksgiving prompts us to analyze that which we love in our lives, while New Year's involves a study of that which we would like to change. I am all for positive thinking, and enjoy focusing on the blessings in my life, but I am not in favor of passivity. Why is it that a resolution begs follow-through, while an expression of thanks ends as soon as I pass the floor to Aunt Alice on my left?
The good aspects of life will not remain if we don't work at them. The most common subject of gratitude at the dinner table is health and the well-being of family members. Well, good health will not remain without an active lifestyle and healthy eating, so make that your Thanksgiving resolution. My first thought when counting my blessings is friends and family, the relationships that make my life so rich. They would certainly not be here without a contribution of time, though, and each of them deserves more of it. My resolution may be to forgo some group activities to spend more quality one-on-one time with the people I love.
Every year, I am grateful for Durham. This year, I want to give thanks for the farmers' market, for being able to walk to work, for sweet potato fries at Broad Street Caf
