Well, we’re heading into Thanksgiving, that time of the year when we all give a little thought to the things we’re thankful for.
We each have our own reasons to give thanks, but collectively, as Yoopers, we have things to be thankful for, together.
We should all be thankful we live in a place that experiences each of the four seasons. Even if we have a chance of snow days in three of those seasons, and the fourth seems like it’s only six days long.
We should all be thankful we live in a place that’s surrounded on three sides by three of the greatest lakes on the planet. It almost makes up for being surrounded by cheeseheads on the fourth.
We should be thankful we have tourists up here. Don’t look at me like that. We should be thankful for them because people in communities with nothing else in common, communities from Marquette to Escanaba, are actually united in one thing– our love of complaining about those tourists.
We should all be thankful that we live in a place with a quirky enough sense of humor that we can race outhouses in the winter and celebrate a giant mushroom in the summer.
We should all be thankful that we live in a place where we have some incredibly talented brewers, and we get to drink the beer they come up with.
We should all be thankful for people who put dill pickles on pasties. Why? Because it means we’re among the chosen few who actually HAVE pasties in the first place.
And we should all be thankful for the writers, the poets, the painters, the sculptors, the builders, and all the skilled creators who help set us apart from just about anywhere else you will ever see.
These days, with everything that’s going on in the world, it seems like it’s hard to find anything for which to be thankful. But you know what? If you spend a few seconds looking, you’ll find more reasons that you ever would have imagined.
And me? What am I thankful for this year? I’m just thankful that we’re all here, living in this incredible place, and spending this time together.
Oh, and I’m thankful for the beer, too.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906.”
