My Thanksgiving
A Nigel Page (dedicated to life)
by Nicole D. Myers
December 2000
It is a day like any other, except that I am different and as I am sitting here being introduced to this blank page, eager for words, I am accompanied by the Muse of winter. Allow me to extend to you dear reader, an eloquent invitation to this humble scribble as I am swelled with the urge to cover this canvas with color and sonnet. I call this a Nigel Page (inspired by JT of course). I began my writings like these when an old and invisible friend offered me a book called "The Artist’s Way" as a gift. It was to be a gift of kinship and creativity, a gift of wealth and success as an artist. It was a wonderful book, a perfect gift. I carry on this tradition as a noble listener of his art and an admirer of his approach to blossoming the creative spirit.

I said it is a day like any other, but I am different. I call this page My Thanksgiving. It has been a year of malice and sorrow and also one of joy and commitment. There is a ghost of poetry floating about my shoulders, a songbird circling my sky and there is hope in my heart. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to sit and write this to share with you. I wasn’t sure if I was able to accumulate the right words to clearly communicte my intent. I haven’t been very good at that lately. And since this is My Thanksgiving I want to begin by thanking you first. I want to thank you for reading this. One only hopes that when something is written it will be shared and identified with. I only write for you, once I have written well enough for myself. I thank you for taking the time to read this, it means the world to me.

My Thanksgiving. A little late for offering thanks I know but better late than never and now that my face is blushed by various shades of experience my strangely mute self is stepping up to the microphone to tip the hat of thanks.

Death can be life affirming. I lost someone close to me to a horribly monstrous illness this year and his passing has changed my life. What if we woke up everyday said all the right things? What if we remembered someone's birthday or hugged our Moms and Dads? What if we said "I love you" to the ones we love without hesitation and without fear? What if we basked in the beauty of every sunset? What if we smiled once in awhile? What if? Death IS life affirming. It teaches us to cherish life, it teaches us to look around us and inhale, and it reminds us what we live for. What do you live for? What do I live for? I live for right now and all that has shaped me. I live for those who make my life a playground, a circus and a safe haven. I live for creativity and passion and desire. I live for it all and these last few months I have truly seen what life is made of. Imagine your face stained with tears then turning and discovering the wide innocent face of a smiling child. Imagine just when you least expect it an old friend stops by for tea just because they were thinking of you. Imagine having the worst day and coming home to find a hand written letter in your mailbox from someone you love. That is what life is, the little things, the little things that add up to the grand total of what we are thankful for in this world.

Iam thankful for music - John Taylor, Duran Duran, Louis Armstrong, the Doors, Miles Davis Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley, John Lennon etc etc etc.....I am thankful for the Beat Poets - Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Neal Cassady, Michael McClure etc etc etc........I am thankful for my family and my friends who make it all so very magical etc etc etc........I am thankful for desire and longing and daydreams and hopes and dreams and wishes and the sun and the moon and the ocean. I am thankful that I can now wake up and know that if I hug my Mom it will make her day and tell my Dad I love him before I hang up the phone he will smile and write a letter to someone just because that it might just make them laugh.

Life is short. This is My Thanksgiving. Life is beautifil. This is My Thanksgiving. Life is precious. This is My Thanksgiving. This is a prayer, an offering to the beauty of life and the art that we each enjoy together and for the art and the love and human kindness that is in each one of us. Not my usual snappy Nigel Page, but this is a special edition for a selected few. This is for you. This is for me. This is for us, to celebrate ourselves, to celebrate our friendships and families and our deepest dreams and our fondest wishes. Ask yourself when you are through reading this what you are thankful for. List them. Read them out loud to yourself. Ask yourself when was the last time you watched the sunset or when you read a child a story. Enjoy life and the little things, remember to be wise with your time and not be wasteful.

I dedicate these words to my brother in law Joe, who was a fine fine man, who died of leukemia in my sisters arms, in his own bed. It is here I would like to wish him a safe journey into "his" heaven and thank him for being a wonderful part of my life.

I will close with the words of William Blake and bid you farewell.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

An Eternity in an hour

With love,

Nicole
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