Thanks

On a day of giving thanks and remembering our country's heritage, I am finally getting around to reading Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, the capitvating history of the Pilgrim's settlement of Plymouth. It dispels many of our cherished myths about this time to bring a more realistic and unsanitized account of what these settlers endured - and provoked.

I also have my DVR set to record the television documentary, Home for the Holidays: The History of Thanksgiving, on the History Channel. This should be a cool reminder of how we have celebrated this day over the centuries - including the First Thanksgiving as a reverent occasion, cherising survival and looking to the future.

In the meantime, I am giving thanks - for friends, family, good health and tidings, and documentaries that tell it like it is.