Our little family is trying something new this year.
We’re taking our Thanksgiving groove on the road or, rather, the trail.
Since our girls have recently proven themselves to be utterly burly, Thursday will find us backpacking in Big Bend National Park.

One of the charming little blurbs on the Big Bend website is titled How NOT to Die in the Desert, so I think we will pack in plenty of water but we’ll skip the pumpkin pie. I assure you, I have not a thing against pumpkin pie, but I’m not sure how well it would hold up in a stuff sack.

We will celebrate Thanksgiving, though, by counting blessings and gratitudes. And I’m feeling like I’ve got so many that I’d better get started.

I’m so grateful for…

My daughters. Every funny, loving, surprising, brilliant, curious inch of both my daughters.

My husband. Ditto the above. Plus supportive. Plus patient. Plus tolerant. Plus etc.

My purring black cats. Including the one we used to call "Needy Sicko". He’s come a long way.

My wise, old white dog. Lumps and limps and all.

My mom, dad and sister, my sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, my neice and nephews, my aunts, uncles and cousins upon cousins upon cousins.

My Goodness. Enough said.

My many, many friends. Ditto the above.

My agent. And all her hows and whys and humor and recalibration and connection.

My editors and illustrators. Geniuses, all.

SCBWI, the Brass Tacks, the Poetry Princesses, the bloggers. It takes a village.

Also, my house full of light… yoga… running and running partners… good food (esp chocolate, asparagus and strong cheese)… sleep (whenever it comes)… books I can’t put down… my daughters’ very fine school… kind neighbors… the trips on my upcoming calendar… my thesaurus… decaf coffee that tastes like regular coffee… mistakes I learn from… my bike… my muse… libraries… bookstores… thick lotion… bare feet… earrings… board games and playing cards… health… funny people… good people… people who try… pretty pottery… pretty music… cute musicians… pecans… hot baths… sunshine…

And that ain’t the start of it…
Goodness is at hand and I wish it, with love, to you and you and all of you…

Happy Thanksgiving, friends, and namaste…