Slouching Towards 2012

It's been quite awhile since I have written and it is not for lack of material.  The last month has been filled to overflowing with things I want to write about - participating in the Commonweal Cancer Help program,
having my three month MRI (no change),  getting a second and third opinion at Stanford and MD Anderson - but honestly my month has been dominated by one mundane, prosaic thing which has prevented me from writing - a bad tooth.

Thanksgiving/Advent

Thanksgiving 1971, I'm on my mom's lap in the middle-right of the picture sporting a red that I haven't worn since

With my grandfather at the same Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. While it has slowly morphed and been perverted into the day before black Friday (aptly named even if it lacked irony), I've always thought of Thanksgiving as the most incorruptible celebration. It feels like a religious  observance but it is as secular  and universal as we can get in America - gather with friends and family, eat, and be consciously appreciative of the good things in your life.