Tangled in a World Wide Web

With the approach of the holidays, I find myself in the familiar and unenviable position of being torn between all the blessings I should be thankful for and remembering that this is my first ever Thanksgiving without my mom. This is complicated by the fact that this week also marks the seven month anniversary of her death. Hard to imagine. My mom loved the holidays. The food, the fellowship, the family, the food. So many things remind me of her. So many little things. This will be an event. We are going to go to my sister's as I have most years when I could. Eating in the same place we had Thanksgiving last year with my mom. I don't know how to prepare for this. I don't like being ill prepared. Much less unprepared. I am writing this mostly as a cathartic exercise in hopes it will help. I am not fooled. I am not naive. Maybe a little desperate. I am trying not to imagine Christmas. That is a whole other ball game. And it falls on the eight month anniversary of my mom...

This was originally posted at myspace.com/imanetjunkie HERE . (On Thanksgiving) It is so easy to forget what Thanksgiving is all about or to become so self-involved as to forget what we have to be thankful for. I haven't forgotten that the economy is bad. I haven't forgotten that we are in the middle of a war with no real end in sight. I haven't forgotten that people are starving and homeless here at home and abroad. I haven't forgotten Aids or Alzheimer's. I haven't forgotten that in the same year of change that we elected the first black President of the US, we also categorically and intentionally denied the freedom and rights of a growing portion of the population to enjoy the same privileges to share their lives and declare their love in front of God and man, to secure the same benefits as a traditional married couple. In essence, we haven't stepped forward, only sideways. I seem to have forgotten my point momentarily, however. I expected to be working o...