Oh Thanksgiving, I think you deserve a blog. I have thanks to give and you are here, so here I am.

First off, I have had the pleasure of joining some folks in their celebration today. It is a lovely atmosphere in a beautiful home. So far I have been introduced to two sisters and their partners. Star and Ronna, older versions of my sister and I really. Just oh so sweet with voices as sweet as honey. They are older, but I have found that when I’m not looking at them I am certain thay are in their twenties. Sweet beautiful voices that say sisterly things. Voices that talk of their parents with shared love and inside knowledge that just speaks to how close they are. The men are musicians. One is named Lawrence and he sings and plays the guitar.  It reminds me of Lawrence Welk despite the fact that he doesn’t sound like him.  Free association by name and talent only. Last night was spent looking through various versions of the song Little Wing on YouTube and sipping wine. Wooden jigsaw puzzels were also pondered over. California is too dry for a fire, and the lack of chill didn’t necessitate it anyway. Regardless, the air was filled with a crackly, permeable warmth just like the kind given by a fire. My family in South Dakota and Minnesota are all enjoying the same type of warmth right now, I am certain.  Even though I am not enjoying it with them I know they are comfortable in the softness of each others company. Even though I would like to be joining them I am happy to be here, where I am, with a family that I now feel I can take some claim to.

I am grateful for that. I thank the expansive universe for the family I have been, and continue to accumulate here on my adventure. Adopted family all around that take Little Wing and I under their large embrace. A giant hug from the universal star dust.. or something like that.

On my way from San Leandro to Monterey yesterday I stopped at the Mazda runway in Laguna Seca. I was told about it by my kind host, Chuck. It is a world class track where people with fast vehicles go when they want to go fast. I like fast. Fast vehicles are the best vehicles (with the exception of my 1992 Ford Ranger, Smokey.  It is the best truck I’ve ever known, and it doesn’t go fast.) so I figured I had to stop. Yesterday was Porsche day there I found out. I rode into the park where the track is located, smack dab in the middle. When I got near the track I could here nice cars zooming. Loud and obvious,  but not the same kind of loud and obvious as a vehicle with a pumped up exhaust,  or a vehicle that’s lacking an exhaust system all together. No, this was the kind of loud one gets from a beautifully built car with a  great engine. A car that is  meant to GO, and boy did they. I was welcomed in by a sweet middle age lady who was holding a release form vistors had to sign before entering the inner track area. I suspect it is in case one of the vehicles goes really fast in the wrong direction,  or something like that. She told me it was Porsche day, which meant many Porsche clubs from the area were there to practice going fast. I was glad she told me, but she didn’t really have to. Porsche day was easily identifiable once Little Wing and I were through the gate by the Porches everywhere. Lined up in rows, parked in the garages. Filling up at the pumps. One particularly nice one was parked away from the rest with a flat tire on the rear driver side. The ones not parked were zoooom zooooom zoooming around the track. What an amazing thing to see. Besides motorcycles Porsches are my favorite wheeled beast. It was almost like it was arranged just for me, but it wasn’t. I know this because when I asked one of the drivers if he could take a passenger his smiling face immediately became stoic and he responded “No.” Clearly not my event, unfortunately. Ah well, it was amazing anyway. So there it is, I’m grateful for German engineering and motors that get my mind reeling.

I’m grateful for intelligence. Gargantuan words and science fiction movies. Science, logic, Spock, and the Buddha of nerds, Yoda. Great books written by authors who know how to tell a story seamlessly.  Art that grabs your heart and shakes it. Art and music that gives chills. Passion lived out intelligently. I am grateful for such things.

I feel gratitude for the people that I knew before the adventure. The parent I love with such force, the one who raised me. I am grateful for the life that was given to me by two of them. The best friend that was given to me before I was even born, my sister. My extended family,  my family of friends,  the many people who have made me who I am. I think of them fondly today.

You guys, it is the day dedicated to giving thanks! This is like the only holiday I truly get into.

There is a lot happening in our world right now. The conflict occuring in our country, the conflict that has been occurring in others for years. Our world is full of sad events that can’t just be overlooked, and some of them are anyway. I want to observe the negativity, and I want to see it gone,  but that’s not what this post is about, I will save that for another time. This post is about gratitude.  While I am not involved the negativity I am grateful I have the option and freedom to be free of it. I thank the stars that I am where I am and not somewhere else. I am grateful that there are people out there who are willing to take on the negativity for me, allowing me to remain optimistic.  But what I’m most grateful for are those that believe,  like me, that humans are better than all this. I am grateful for good hearted humans that follow love instead of hate and act on it every day. Teachers and nurses. Those who share smiles with strangers, and people who don’t hold grudges.  I am thankful for all those who love themselves for who they are. Humans that realize people are what they are and that we should accept all regardless of differences. I am grateful that I am meeting those people on my journey,  and I am grateful beyond words that the world is not what I thought it was before my adventure. It is great to know the world is filled with good and the media is/was misleading.  Sure, there is bad stuff, but even more so there is good. If you look for it you will see it. I am grateful for perspective.

I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday. It wasn’t even busy, I was shocked and so very pleased to find more sea creatures than humans.  There were tiny little creatures immersed in all that liquid. They were thriving in lovely tanks filled with amazing artistic displays of corral and sea rocks. I got to see octopi and jelly fishes.  Sharks, sea otters, and sea birds. The positivity of our world was there, living despite any human negativity that might be happening in this world. I got to spend two full hours gawking and I loved it! I was thankful for that opportunity which I got to share with a new friend, Star.

I’m grateful for good smelling turkey, and fresh lemons given to me by kind folk for me to pass onto the people I’m sharing this day with. I’m grateful for wool sweaters and a new helmet given to me by those who care about my safety. California,  Minnesota and all the states in between.  All the things that are still left to be discovered on Little Wing.

I am thankful for the poetry of gratitude,  and how pretty this blog sounds if read out loud to the sound of classical music.

Love to you all. Enjoy this day, and all the rest of ’em too.