Thanksgiving in my family was sweet! Nathan and I drove all day to get down south. My dad is 79 and my mom is 78. Mom made a little turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with butternut flavor, salad with walnuts and raisins,and a little chocolate cake for dessert. I passed on the cake and gravy! It is getting hard for her to do dinners but she wanted to do this one!

We watched dolphins playing in the canal from the ancestral condo balcony (they live on Lake Worth Inlet)while the sun went down. Mom and Nathan and I play "Kings in The Corner" and we are raucous! Dad burns dozens of music CDs and we listened to a MoTown CD he burned for a Detroit party down here in Florida. All my favorites. We also listened to the slow, sultry version of "The Midnight Sun": one of our favorite jazz songs.      

My brother wasn't here again but I will have my sixteen year old niece over tomorrow night for a sleepover.

I have been very lucky in my life to have my parents for such a long time. My life is richly rewarding but very simple in most ways and I believe it is my obligation to give back as much as I can in my work. I won't tell you all the sad parts. I take in a great deal of it and sometimes it affects me...Monday I am back to holding other people's pain and supporting their growth.......I'm just glad I am blessed with strength....

Stephen,I hope you and the rest of us with difficulties have a better New Year! Tomorrow Dad and I will figure out how to burn my smart card music, I hope. Maybe then I can send something to Amos...oh wait I'm a day late and a dollar short! It figures...harpy