By Edwin Cooney
I consider Thanksgiving our only national festival because it's a combination of both a religious and a secular celebration of gratitude. Unlike Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, or any other religious holiday, Thanksgiving Day is a day to be grateful for all we have, all we love, and all we are. On Thanksgiving, the power in "thanks" beckons us even beyond acceptance to gratitude for our gains and even for our pains.
Having been born on Wednesday, November 28th, 1945, my birthday has been celebrated eleven times on Thanksgiving: 1946, 1957, 1963, 1968, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2013, and 2019. Next year will mark my twelfth birthday/Thanksgiving Day simultaneous celebration. Perhaps I'll see that celebration in 2030, but it's less likely that I'll celebrate my birthday/Thanksgiving dual holiday in 2041, my 96th birthday — although maybe, maybe, maybe! I don't think I'll be likely to get an ice cream cake on November 28th, 2047, my 102nd birthday, but who knows?!
One reality I learned quite early. On my fifth birthday, which was on a Tuesday, no one, me included, celebrated. I was away from home at my residential school for the blind and it seemed at that time I was always both homesick and in the school infirmary. A month later, I lost all of my functional sight. Hence, at 5, I learned that not all birthdays would necessarily be happy. The same was true for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I've had a whole string of happy birthday celebrations whether on Thanksgiving or not due to the wonderful existence of my best and closest friend, Roe. Yes, she's given me many, many wonderful presents, as I've attempted to do for her. What makes them so wonderful is the heart she's put into my birthday. Roe has two daughters born in the month of November and on each year’s occasion, she has still prepared my birthday presents even after coming home from the hospital! What a friend, what a lady!
My 18th birthday, one of those birthday/Thanksgiving combinations, had a rather comical and silly twist. On that occasion, I was visiting close friends in Endwell, New York and, the night before, my friend insisted that I accompany him to a local bar to have a beer to celebrate tomorrow's birthday. But, I reminded him, my birthday wasn't until the next morning. I worried: what would we do if a cop walked into that bar and demanded to know if I was 18? Talk about naiveté!
Yes, indeed, there's something special about celebrating Thanksgiving along with my birthday six times in every 28-year calendar pattern! It's certainly not because I'm more special than anyone else. After all, everyone's birthday is not only special, but also a bit magical!
My friend's birthday is the day after Christmas. She celebrated her birthday for many years on the same day as Chairman Mao Zedong!
No, she's no Communist, but even if she were, she’d still be my best friend!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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