Tom’s 2019 Thanksgiving thankful list
Each November, I compose a Thanksgiving thankful list for the preceding year. My wife, Deb, and I enjoy our life in red rock southern Utah and have many things for which we are thankful. I hope sharing them brings a smile and acknowledgement that even that which is seldom thought of can be a source of thankfulness. Below is my 2019 list.
I’m thankful for acronyms. We have all seen an international sports event with a United States team playing. At some point, the American fans begin to chant, “USA! USA!” Pretty catchy. Imagine the same chant without acronyms, “United States of America! United States of America!” Not so good, way too wordy.
Or consider international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization — a mouthful. Thanks to acronyms, we can simply say UNESCO. Kudos to the genius who first used or popularized acronyms.
I’m thankful that our home planet, Earth, is in a pretty boring galactic neighborhood. For example, there are no known quasars (super massive black holes surrounded by a gigantic accretion disk) within millions of light years. In fact, the closest known quasar is about 600 million light years away. This is good. Why? Because one quasar typically has more luminosity (brightness created by electromagnetic radiation) than our entire Milky Way Galaxy. If one was close, a few million light years away, our planet and everything on it would be toast.
I’m glad I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s. Because of that, I know how to read a clock with a face and hands (analog), I know how to read and write in cursive, and I know how hard work and determination produce much better results than whining. When I grew up, people were tougher but also nicer and more polite. Hell, the girls in high school were tougher than most boys today. What happened?
I’m grateful for natural arches. Deb and I have enjoyed southwest desert hiking for about 30 years. Our favorite hikes are to slot canyons with arches a close second. Arches are everywhere, especially in Utah. Arches National Park alone is home to more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches. There must be at least that many scattered throughout the remainder of the state. A natural arch is a rock formation, often with steep or vertical cliff faces, in which an arch forms with an opening underneath. Most arches are fashioned from narrow sandstone or limestone fins where relatively softer rock erodes beneath a harder caprock above, creating an arch. They become narrow due to erosion over geological time scales.
My favorite is Grosvenor Arch. This massive multicolor sandstone arch, actually a double arch, towers 150 feet above the ground with a main span of nearly 100 feet. To borrow a phrase, it is the mother of all arches.
I’m grateful for grocery store shopping carts. Prior to grocery carts, shoppers carried baskets or bags — okay for a few items, not so much for a major shopping trip. Sylvan Goldman changed all that in 1937. He owned the Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain in Oklahoma and wondered how customers might easily move more groceries. After tinkering a bit, the modern shopping cart was born, and we all can now buy a truckload of items in one trip. Would Costco exist without oversized shopping carts?
Cats are patient creatures, and I’m thankful for that. I’m sure you’ve seen a cat stalking and ready to pounce on a grasshopper or leaf. They can wait minutes, wiggling their butts, ready for the perfect moment. Our cats, Molly and Bob, are just as patient in training us. They come into the home office, sit, and stare at us until we get the hint and give them their dinner. Molly waits by their exercise equipment — a hoop they jump through. We get the message and have her shake paws, stand, and jump through the hoop for yummy treats. It’s a good thing they patiently give us time to learn and respond to their requests.
I hope everyone recalls the many things, obvious and not so obvious, to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Shopping carts! Quasars!