Our (Canada’s) Thanksgiving long weekend is happening right now. The perennial question, of course, is when to serve up the big feast (Saturday night? Sunday mid-day? Monday afternoon?) but Sunday morning puts us right in the middle of the celebrations and always, to me, feels like a good time to pause for a moment and reflect.

Grateful for so much

I am blessed to have a wonderful life partner. Not only is he steadfast, supportive, loving, and generous, he’s also a lot of fun to be around. Yes, we have our moments but they’re few and far between. Mostly, we share a life that’s full and happy. And–bonus–he’s not too hard on the eyes, either.

I also have a terrific family – step-kids and their families, a brother and sister-in-law and more – plus great friends.

On top of all this, I live in a country that is relatively safe and stable. No country is threatening us with war. We can plan our lives with the sweet certainty that comes from living in a wealthy, democratic society.

And I’m also grateful for the random brilliance of others

Almost every day, I find myself reading about some extraordinary new thing and find myself feeling grateful. There are legions of dedicated people out there who keep pushing the boundaries of what we know, asking questions that seem impossible to answer and then proceeding, sometimes over decades of hard work, to start finding answers that will help make our world an even better place.

For instance, new x-ray lasers are looking into how atoms interact, literally giving scientists x-ray vision into the microscopic world. These new x-rays capture what’s happening in femtoseconds which is a mind-boggling one billionth of one millionth of a second. Evidently you need something that fast in order, as an example, to ‘watch’ the process within plants that splits water to form oxygen during photosynthesis.

Why would anyone want to do that? Evidently, this new science could lead to breakthroughs in artificial photosynthesis as a new energy source as well as finding new materials for electronic circuitry so we won’t have to continue ripping up the environment to find the rare earth minerals our electronics currently depend on.

But, also, how wondrous would it be to basically look inside a leaf and witness that miracle?

There is something to be said for being grateful for the little things in life. But it’s the really big things I think upon most in moments like this. For instance, I feel like I’m surrounded by unbounded love. The vast world we live in is still full of depthless promise. And every day, there are more people taking giant leaps of discovery and accomplishment.

For all of this, I am truly thankful.