Happy Thanksgiving Or Not

I remember my first thanksgiving in San Francisco in 1969.  I was single, as were all my friends at that time.  We were too poor to go travel to "home," for Thanksgiving.  We all got together at Mimi's apartment for a Thanksgiving feast. Each of us brought something.  The ladies cooked the turkey.  We all stayed sober.  My heart was grateful for these new friends, and a bit sad that I did not have my family thanksgiving with parents and siblings back in New York.  No one cooked turkey like Mom, gravy and stuffing unique.  What I have come to realize is that not everyone might have felt the same as me in that San Francisco singles thanksgiving dinner.  Not everyone has good memories, or any memory of a family thanksgiving.  Sometimes it was a lot of drunkenness and debauchery with poorly cooked food.  Or maybe life was so dysfunctional there was no thanksgiving, no family.  Walk around a city on Thanksgiving afternoon and see how many people are in bars.  So I say "Happy Thanksgiving" to those who are having fond memories, or look forward to a day of friendship and sobriety and a good shared dinner.  To those who see only sad memories or a sad today, resentment will not make for a bette day.  On my worst of days, if I catch a bit of spirituality, I look for what I can be grateful for in my life.