Giving thanks
With so much to be grateful for, 365 days a year, here are three highlights during this holiday week.
When our twins were little, my wife, Bridgett, and I tucked them in at night with a thanks-giving tradition.
One by one, we took turns sharing at least one thing that we were grateful for from that day.
We kept it up, virtually every day, until they were 10 years old. Thereafter, as they moved into separate bedrooms in our current home and bedtimes became less structured, the ritual slowed into an occasional practice.
Still, we revive it when the spirit moves—and it’s something that we absolutely do on Thanksgiving.
In anticipation of that, here are three of the innumerable things that I’m grateful for:
Our children, now 20 years old and college juniors, both made it back home safely for the holiday.
Zach made the 240-mile trek in his compact car last Friday evening; Maggie Rose took the “el” train home last night. Seemingly simple acts, but developments that I never take for granted.
The end of the Hollywood strikes (culminating in the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike earlier this month).
Over the last two weeks, Bridgett’s work as a crew member for NBC's “Chicago Fire”1 has gone from 0 to 100 mph. That’s what happens when a historic set of strikes grinds a multibillion-dollar industry to a halt—and then gets moving again.
It’s called “wait, wait some more, wait some more….is this ever going to end?… wait some more…. thank God we’re back!…oh, it’s not actually over yet?…wait some more…hurry the heck up!”
Amid a tangle of detailed nuances far too nuanced for me to even begin to comprehend, my wife is responsible for ensuring that hundreds of people get paid every week.
Just a wee bit of pressure there.
Along with everyone on her show’s payroll, I’m grateful that she has the mental and physical stamina to keep pace with it all. And that she’s back on payroll.
This Substack outlet.
Eight months ago, without a clear roadmap of where this column would go, I got started with an introductory note that I sent to three relatives and two friends. Although I’ve been a writer professionally for nearly 40 years, this platform was foreign terrain.
Today, there are 230 subscribers to The Inside Edge—roughly one for every day of this column’s life. I’ve never met most of you, though we’re not what I would call strangers—at least, given the personal topics I've explored, I’d like to think you know me pretty well by now.
Everyone who has read at least one of my 70 columns—from my interview of legendary actor Mickey Rooney to my masked-man encounter with U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff, from the saga of our new-car buying experience to my adventures in substitute teaching—has entrusted me with that precious, non-renewable commodity known as your time.
Reflecting on the variety of subjects that I’ve tackled—foremost the relational rollercoaster journey that I’ve been on with my brother Phil—I am deeply grateful for your gift of encouragement and engagement.2
I’ll be back in touch on Saturday; in the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!
Mark your calendar: the Season 12 Premiere is Wednesday, January 17th!
Helping propel The Inside Edge forward is the relatively high “open rate,” which tells me that it’s not viewed as just another e-mail cluttering your in-box. Three out of five subscribers read any given column, with that figure ranging between 56% and 64% over the past three months.