The holiday season is quickly approaching.  In less than a week the United States will celebrate its National Day of Thanksgiving.  Families will gather around to watch parades and football.  They will fill each other in on life’s happenings, laugh and joke while sipping exotic $15.00 wines and nibble on cheese.  Finally engorging themselves on a turkey dinner with a multitude of trimmings before ending it in a flurry of high calorie desserts and a tryptophan induced slumber.  The majority of these families, whether it be at the beginning of the gathering, the beginning of the meal, or the conclusion of the festivities will bow their heads and offer their thanks in the form of a grace to a higher being than themselves.

Being the atheistic jaded cynic that I have become since that clear September morning 7 years ago, it was always relatively difficult for me to do so without that sarcasm leaking out.  However, I am a team player, so when it was time to say grace it was a grace that I would recite.  Borrowing from the cultural icon of Homer Simpson, ”Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub” was usually my contribution at the dinner table.  The Wolves, being the impressionable youth that they were, continue that tradition in my presence to this day.

I’ve found it harder to offer rub-a-dub-dub to something or someone who may or may not have anything to do with my fortune.  Is it fair to offer them rub-a-dub-dub for the good but not rescind rub-a-dub-dub for the bad?  It’s an ideological fork in the road, and one which I have yet to choose a path on.  I don’t see myself making a decision anytime soon… but you never know.

To be honest though, there is plenty that I have to rub-a-dub-dub about.  I have a roof over my head, even if it is 6 flights up.  I have food in my cupboard, even if it is Ramen noodles.  I have a good job, even though Mondays are like hell on earth.  I have the unconditional love of a fantastic woman, even when I’m an ass.  I have friends who support me, even though I may only see them once a year.  Then of course, I have all of you who take the time out of your day to read my blatherings and may even go so far as to inject your own point of view, and a different perspective feeds my insatiable hunger for understanding and is something I rub-a-dub-dub about quite often.  There is plenty that I have to rub-a-dub-dub about.

Still, the thing that I rub-a-dub-dub the most over are the memories.  I value both the memories already forged and the ones that are yet to be made.  It is in my memories where everyday can be a Dawg Day of Thanksgiving and EVERYONE, no matter where they are right at that second, can be there collectively… and it is those gatherings that illuminate my way through the darkness so that perhaps I will stumble no more.

So when the time comes, I will bow my head.  I will offer rub-a-dub-dub for not just the food in front of me, the people surrounding me, or the possessions I have acquired… but for the memories to be made with those present and for the memories I have with those who can no longer be with us.

Miss you buddy… and I rub-a-dub-dub for the memories of you every day.