ON THE TUNNEYSIDE of SPORTS November 19, 2012 #411 Coming up next…A time for THANKS!
After further review…Thursday of this week is Thanksgiving Day, which falls on the fourth Thursday in November. President Abraham Lincoln designated the final Thursday in November as a national holiday to further a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states following the Civil War (substituting political party names for those geographical entities may be applicable today). In December, 1941 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt adjusted that date to the fourth Thursday, reasoning it would give the country an economic boost (which may apply to today’s fiscal cliff as well).
The world of professional sports figures that in whatever home you happen to be giving thanks, you’ll be watching an athletic contest on TV. Are ya ready for some footbaaall? This year there will be three NFL games broadcast–one following the other across the USA and the globe. While I was honored to have been the referee in six NFL Turkey day games, I missed dinner with the family on that special day— a bummer.
Thanksgiving Day as a kid was always a sports day for me – no school and the next day was free too, yeah! We played in the street with a ball so scuffed-up it had leathery tags hanging from it, and we’d go till the street lights came on, but never past the start of dinner. Mom served a wonderful meal following a solemn grace and we were never to lift our forks until “Amen” was said by all. If the phone rang during that special dinner, it went unanswered. Obviously, there was no television, no texting, no tweeting, and no Facebook to disrupt that special time. Dad consistently reminded us to “Count your blessings”. I did and still do.
Living in those times, indeed, was a blessing; thanks, Dad. That heritage gave me and our family a running head start to live in today’s fast-moving society. With good health, daily physical exercise, a wonderful and care-giving spouse along with our six children, sixteen grandchildren and a great- grandson, how can I be anything but grateful? Retirement? That’s not a word in my dictionary; I’ve adopted the word “refirement” with so much yet to be done. The thought is– Give without remembering; receive without forgetting! My thanks to all for reading these Tunneysides!
Will you express your gratitude by counting your blessings every day?
To contact Jim go to www.jimtunney.com or email him at jim@jimtunney.com
