.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;} >
 

BEING THANKFUL FOR THANKSGIVING

[November 23rd] -- "Thanksgiving. Yeah, yeah. I'm thankful. Gimme a leg and a beer, and get outa the way so I can see the frickin' game!"

To some, that's what Thanksgiving is all about. And that's okay, really. We tend to live our lives like electricity, looking for the path of least resistance. But for me, Thanksgiving is about choosing one thing each November, and giving thanks.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you.

My wife and kids have so many talents that sometimes I think the good Lord just skipped me entirely to kind of even things out. For instance, my wife makes porcelain dolls. She doesn't just buy parts and clothes and put them together; no no, that would be too easy. She creates them. She sculps them by hand - from scratch - and then makes the clothes for them - by hand - from scratch. She won so many "Blue Ribbons" and "Best of Shows" at the Idaho county and state fairs that she stopped bothering to enter anything a few years ago. Each of my children can do something so well that I've been left to feel inferior for many, many years.

The only thing I could do was write. Big deal. For decades, I'd sit down at the typewriter, pound out a short story or article, read it with pride, and then throw it in the drawer, never to be seen again. Why bother trying to publish? Everyone thinks they are a writer, and what, one-one thousands of a percent of writers get published? No. Rejection like that I didn't need. So I spent the first forty-eight years of my life feeling like I was just one of those "blah" people who could procreate and keep from getting fired from my job, but that was about it.

Then I heard about "blogging." I started "The Beltway Boys" in December of 2004 -- never expecting that anyone would ever read it. But if felt so good to write a short story, or an article, and not have in end up in the bottom drawer of my desk, away from the eyes of those who might enjoy it. Blogging gave me - finally - a sense of pride. Then, an amazing thing happened. People actually began to read the blog. Later, as if that wasn't enough, some left comments saying they actually liked it. Then one day, someone asked me to write a story for their site. For pay! (Okay, it was $5.00). I always thought my knowledge of baseball was no different from the rest of the kids growing up in the 60's and 70's, but - apparently - spending all those years in school day-dreaming about baseball actually helped me accomplish something in my life.

Thank you, for reading - and responding to - "The Beltway Boys." Don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself a "real" writer; this is a blog for goodness sake. Heck, these days every dog has a blog. But you've helped give a soon-to-be middle age guy a sense of purpose and self respect, and that has made all the difference in the world. Thank you.

I can hold my head high now. Well ... actually, I've got this spinal thing going on, so really I can't hold my head very high, but I was speaking metaphorically. Or was that rhetorically?

Forget it. Happy Thanksgiving!


Comments:
Many thanks to you, Farid, for your always-entertaining and thoughtful blog, which I know is hard work. This off-season, yours has become the only blog that I still read almost every day, and it's enriched my daily routine.

It's not only--or maybe even mostly--about the baseball insights that you bring, but about the passion and heart you bring to your blog writing. Excellent work! And I have no doubt that if you had the time, the inclination, and the right project to fire up your enthusiasm, you could certainly be published in any number of commerical outlets as well. You're good at this, my friend, whatever you've told yourself.

A very happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
 
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Farid.
By the way, I am reading that our favorite GM is licking his chops over Lastings Milledge and has offered John Patterson but the Mets want more.
 
Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for writing!
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?