Monday, November 21, 2016

Being Thankful #10


This weekend was a good one! My son and I did some very cool, fun things, and as I write this very early and still a little groggy from sleep this Monday morning, it feels like something that I should share. What better time to express gratitude than this week, as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.

Now, I should note, of course, that Thanksgiving is not, and should not be, celebrated by Native Americans. A part of me still feels very bad, and this feeling lingers a bit. But it is a holiday, where Americans have come together, despite differences, to get together and enjoy a feast and take a pause from life in order to give thanks for life's blessings. Whatever the differences between friends and family members (or whoever else you are sharing Thanksgiving with), it is one of those rare times when we are encouraged to remind ourselves to be thankful for what we have. Native American people seemed much better at this throughout history than we have been, as they did not simply kill animals wastefully, let alone for game, like many within our society tend to do. Also, they did not waste their food like we do. I heard an estimate somewhere - and this I can believe - that Americans waste something like 40% of their food! Truly outrageous!

Okay, sorry. I got off topic there a bit.

In any case, yes, this was a good weekend, a very enjoyable one. Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day weatherwise. Really, it was one of those kinds of late autumn days that you dream about, and the proof of that came in the form of the parking lot being overloaded at the park with hiking trails that my son and I often go to. We, like many others, had to park on the streets, which were lined on both sides with parked cars like ours.

The hike was a good couple of hours (with plenty of breaks), and my son did an unusually strenuous hike together. Usually, we do milder hikes, but there was a good deal of uphill hiking in this one. Granted, new Jersey is not particularly known for high altitudes, but there are foothills, and this particular parks (Pyramid Mountain) somehow feels like a particularly strenuous one. So, this hike felt like a particularly good one when we were done.

We also did some mild rock climbing, which is something that my son has taken up somewhat on the side, expressing interest in climbing rocks and small cliff faces whenever we go hiking like that. We took some pictures of the hike, including a few of the distant sunset towards the west.

Very nice!

The next day, Sunday, I rewarded him for a good week and change of work at school by taking him to see the new Marvel movie, "Doctor Strange." I remember Doctor Strange when I was a kid, although he was never one of those superheroes that I read regularly, or even knew much about. Maybe read two or three comics of him, or involving him, and that is about it. So, like with my son, this was pretty much a new hero for me, as well.

Not a bad movie, although I will write a review independent from this particular blog.

Next, we visited my parents and watched some NFL football. The Giants came back from a deficit to beat the Bears, in what proved to be a fairly entertaining game. Now, they are 7-3, which is a record that I always like for them to have after ten games, dating back to my elementary school days. As a fan, it always felt like 7-3 (or better) was a mark of success, that the year they were having was good. I am glad that they made it there with this win yesterday.

We spent a lot of time together just being goofballs as well, and I like how much his sense of humor is developing. He seems like a very happy kid, and a teacher last week said that, as well. For that matter, my son himself described himself like that yesterday. These are things for which I feel extremely grateful!

On one final note, we started a new book together yesterday. This one has long been one of my favorites, as I remember reading it when I was maybe a year or so older than him. It was "The Outsiders," by S. E. Hinton. In fact, I enjoyed that book so thoroughly, that I wound up getting the other books by her that followed that up, and doing so on my own, separate from school. Than included "That was then, and this is now," "Tex," and "Rumblefish."

Hopefully, he will take a similar liking to it, as well. There is other reading material that I want to get for us to read together, although after we were just informed that Tintin (Tintin of all things!) was deemed inappropriate (too much violence and whisky), remembering and finding "The Outsiders" was a bit of a triumph, and a timely one, at that!

In any case, all of this stuff combined to make this weekend feel very special, and to be able to share it all with my wonderful son made it all that much more special! Just wanted to express my sincere gratitude, and to share it here!

Thank you for reading my stuff (another thing for which I am extremely grateful and feel blessed)!












Not only did we see a Lamborghini on the road, on our way to seeing Dr. Strange, but the plates were from Montana, to boot!

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