Quantum Leap and Giving Thanks

I don't give a hang for Thanksgiving.  That is, the eatabigmealgettotallyfullandsleepallafternoon, Thanksgiving. Most certainly I think that it's become a holiday for anticipation of not Christmas, but that Black Friday jazz that I find not only herd mentality, but a disgusting and rather in your face way for the retailers to milk every buck out of the holiday season.  And the gullible shoppers who seem to think saving a dollar ninety-five on a Barbie Dreamhouse is going to get them into Heaven.
No.  It will not.
What Thanksgiving should be about is simple. Giving Thanks.  I am thankful for my best friend Beth, my family, who are quite far away, and my cats, Chaney, Olivia, and most of all, Archer.  Oh he is so darned cute.  And no, I will not put up some barfy video of how adorable he was as a baby....
Well, maybe I will....

Now wasn't that delightful?  And I couldn't find the baby vid so I have this one which was about 2 months ago.
As most know, I've been in love with a tv show and an actor on that show for nigh on twenty years.  Quantum Leap had a terrific Thanksgiving episode, "Leap Home".  Sam, who is alone, travelling in time, leaps back to his childhood home in 1969.  The guy jumped in his own time machine to prove it worked and ended up exiled in his own lifetime for pretty much the rest of the series.  There are many things that put this show above all others but the one I must point out the most is, here is Sam Beckett, the ultimate man without a country.  There is no comfort in being alone in time, setting right what something or someone made wrong. And the holidays seem pretty important to him, as this episode illustrates.  There are several things he can set right--save his brother's life by keeping him from leaving for Vietnam, saving his fathers life by changing his unhealthy lifestyle, and keeping his little sister from marrying Chuck, an abusive drunk.  Does he succeed in doing these things?  Yes and no, that remains to be seen.  It is a story about being with a family for Thanksgiving and being grateful, in the long run, for having this second chance to be with them.  In the end, as his friend Al says how he would like to have another moment with his father and sister and Sam should be grateful that whoever is leaping him around is giving him the great gift of being with them again.

 If I get a little miserable missing my Mom or my Dad I think about how lucky I am that I live in a warm apartment, three cats and a best friend who is constantly reminding me how much she loves me, and plenty of food and a JOB.  I belong to a church that I love.
And, as Beth (my best friend) pointed out today and over and over again, if it wasn't for Sam and Al we might never have been friends.

Now I will go back to blogging about my actors and things--but be happy with what you have--Happy Thanksgiving!