Day 327: Thanksgiving Week: Friday

On this Friday of Thanksgiving week, I'm thankful for:

• Reminders of Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football from years gone by. What a rivalry. What great moments in time. What a time for a kid who was crazy about sports to grow up. The day of Thanksgiving during my youth was marked by Nebraska vs. Oklahoma on the gridiron. The men and boys got their pheasant hunting in early and then headed home in time for kickoff. Osborne vs. Switzer. Good vs. Evil. Bragging right for Big 8 supremacy at stake. Red vs. crimson. The farm boys vs. the thugs. Literally the day every Nebraska fan waited the entire year for. The day of Thanksgiving was when families and friends gathered around one television in the living room with heaping mounds of Thanksgiving leftovers in front of them and yelled, screamed, cried, and cursed at the four quarters of this football that commenced to be played out. Billy Sims. J.C. Watts. Keith Jackson. I.M. Hipp. Jarvis Redwine. The list goes on and on. It was the day when you fought for a spot in front of the television. When you didn't dare to sit in certain spots on the couch or chair, the domains of the elderly citizens who had paid their dues to sit there. Football just doesn't feel like that any longer. It doesn't feel as magically. It doesn't feel as life affirming. It doesn't feel as necessary. I suppose that's a good thing because priorities should take over and put football down farther on the list. But I'm so thankful for having grown up in a small town in Nebraska during that era of college football, when the entire state came to a standstill for a few hours on a Friday afternoon, we let the great Keith Jackson or Chris Schenkel take over on the mic and guide us the rest of the way. I'll never forget the look, feel, and smells of those Fridays. They were special, indeed. 

• Christmas lights and the motivation of my wife to get them strung. Thanks to her, our house is lit up like, well, a Christmas tree, and we're reveling in the Christmas spirit. We're the first on the block to be doing so, and this most certainly is the first time we can lay just a claim. I'm absolutely overflowing with pride. We fricking' rock the Christmas bells, neighborhood.  

• A deck of cards. 

• Hot chocolate. 

• The quiet moments that manage to creep in and pour themselves over me. I need them, and I welcome them. They come too far in between, but when they arrive, I always have my arms wide open and ready to greet them. 

• The comforting spirit that is Willie Nelson.