Giving Thanks To Writing

The list of things we take for granted in this world is longer than any blog I could write.  I will not try to give thanks for everything we fail to appreciate as this piece would turn into nothing more than a list.  Instead, I want to focus on one thing I am thankful to have in my life.  (This is in no way meant as a slight to my family or loved ones.)  In speaking in terms of a non-person, the most important thing I am thankful for in my life is my ability to write.  One night when I was a child I was sitting with my mother watching PBS during what I liked to call one of their “Beggathons.”  In between the pleas for money they would show concert pianist playing everything from Chopin to Gershwin.  I had just finished listening to my favorite Beach Boys cassette (Yes, I came to the party late but still know the value of a good four part harmony) and had no taste for the piano pieces my mother closed her eyes and drifted away during.  She was appalled when I heard “Rhapsody in Blue” and said, “Hey, they’re playing the United Airlines song!”  My mother buried her anger as a former music major in college.  She told me to watch the pianist.  To my amazement, he was not even looking where his fingers were going.  They just danced across the keys like some magic puppeteer was controlling them.  It was like the music was coming out of him and not the piano.  Then she told me to close my eyes and just feel the music.  I did as she asked and it was like a wave flowing over me.  In that instant I had a sudden appreciation for a great performer.  He made the music come to life.  Some time later my cousin played “Rhapsody in Blue” on the piano and she was very good.  What I heard though was a collection of notes and not the wave of music I had been so amazed by.  We have all read good writers and not so good writers.  When I sit down at the computer with an idea and no one around to disturb me, I feel like that concert pianist letting the words flow in a majesty of diction.  It is not often but sometimes I can get on a roll.  When I am done I look at the screen and stare in wonder at what I have just created.  Perhaps no one else will like it but to me I have made something that transcended time and space if only for that briefest of moments.  I will be proofreading my work and come to that part.  I pause and smile every time.  The memory of that pianist comes to mind and I cannot help but grin.  I am not an arrogant or vain fellow but I know when I nailed it.  That is the greatest feeling in the world.  So today, I am thankful for writing.  This is my stage.  Let the words flow.