New Argyle Road in autumn, which has nothing to do with the story

It is better to be thankful for the unexpected

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. In the States it is Columbus Day so Yanks can be thankful old Christopher Columbus found this place or we might be somewhere else.

Imagine if Columbus didn’t discover America looking for China, there would be no rock and roll. There would be no blues, no jazz, no Niagara Falls to wonder at and no Florida to retire to when we get old.

The Grand Canyon would just be sitting there without helicopters to swoop in and take gut churning videos. Hollywood movie stars would be up in the sky above La Brea tar pits. Toronto would still be an native word and Canada would be a village.

So thanks to Columbus for putting my parents on a collision course and me being here. And you being where you are with whomever you are with.

I am thankful to God who keeps me and all the people I’ve met who helped me out. I hope I was good back to them.

We are thankful for our families. They are never like the movies though with two parents and 2.7 children. When people say “dysfunctional families” it sounds weird. All families are sort of dysfunctional and functional at the same time.

We have circles of families and ex-families. Let’s admit it. Most of us are part of broken homes. I’m in a broken home but it is only the plumbing. As soon as my plumber gets back from the oil fields of Alberta it will get fixed.

My dad was mostly non-dysfunctional. He was Acadian Catholic only he hated church. His mother used to call my Jehovah’s Witness mother to get him up for Mass. And she did it. Now that’s dysfunctional.

My mother was Anglican in Newfoundland. Did I tell you she will be 90 next month and just got back from her first trip to Newfoundland since she left 81 years ago?

My great aunt Auntie Bessie in Halifax converted to the International Bible Students before World War I . She converted my grandfather, grandmother and later most of my aunts and uncles to the IBS who are now called Jehovah’s Witness.

My Aunt Bessie, who grew grapes in Halifax which was pretty hard to do, promptly quit and called the JW’s crazy. So now half my family doesn’t talk to the other half because they think the other ones are Evil Slaves and from the devil.

I’m thankful about all that today because I don’t have to remember all those birthdays and buy them all Christmas cards.

I’ve been married twice and divorced once with twice coming up this month. I’m thankful about that since I got five kids from the deal and four grandchildren.

After watching too much American Justice, I’m glad those two women who didn’t like me up and left and I didn’t end up in prison over it. Some guys who aren’t getting along at home forget to let nature take its course. Always best to be patient is my advice.

My kids are nothing like me and just like me all at once. I used to be irritated that they didn’t do what I wanted but now thankful they make their own way in life.

They are all cool and fiercely independent. I’ve got the pictures and memories and every so often they come back home or I go to Toronto to see them. And for that I am thankful.

It’s good to be flexible with families in these modern times. Roll with the flow, be cool and join another family. There are lots of families that can use another person so join one.

I’m trying to do that now and it seems to be working. Got five more kids in the deal, which makes a decent baseball team with the first five.

I was at a family reunion on on the North Shore this summer with some of the nicest people and they let me feel right at home. I’m still new to them so none of them wanted to fight with me yet. That will come.

There was a birthday party last week and I got invited. I’m invited for Thanksgiving turkey dinner tonight at my place and I hope everyone comes.

My step-daughter, what a silly term, just called and needs a ride to work. The buses aren’t running. I’d better go.