I started this tradition some years ago: rather than celebrating Thanksgiving, I celebrate what I’m thankful for in the preceding year. It has become difficult for me to celebrate the colonization of this continent, which is how I have come to perceive the holiday we call Thanksgiving.
This past year… I am so grateful for the continued presence of my neograndson Theo in my life. Now living in Manchester, thriving at Manchester Metropolitan University, he and I continue to Zoom regularly. We are family. (if you are new to this story, read past blogs in which I posted about needing Team Tim, nearly 2 years ago now!)
I am grateful to have a loving partner. We sustain each other as we move on this journey through life together.
I continue to be grateful, after 38 years, for the opportunity to participate in GALA choruses. I attended my 10th GALA festival in Minneapolis this past summer, singing with the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, after a drought of eight years. 7500 of us blew the roof off Minneapolis! And we will do so again in four years. (GALA used to stand for Gay and Lesbian Choral Association; with the expansion of the possibility of identities, the letters ‘GALA’ are now the name of the organization, no longer an acronym.)
I am grateful to be a member of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. Such a welcoming family! I am thankful for our new Rector, Joseph Wallace-Williams. This parish chose a gay man as the rector back in 2002, at a time when that was even more controversial than it is today. Now the vestry has chosen another gay man to lead us spiritually, and I feel very much at home.
Despite the results of this past election, I feel a strong sense of community and family that will sustain me. Though an unfortunate way to find out, I now know precisely who is for me and who is not. I am thankful to be surrounded by family of choice, both Q+ and allies, in this tumultuous time. I am so thankful that most of my biological family is also family of choice.
Can’t wait to see what I have to say about thankfulness in 2025! Stay tuned!
Reid Vanderburgh 