There are tons of movies about Christmas, about Santa and elves and coming home for the holidays. There is only one real movie about Thanksgiving: Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It's important to watch this film if you are not traveling for Thanksgiving (to be glad you aren't) and especially important if you are an American trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in a foreign country (as I am). It's also important in our house because it's one of Brian's favorites. I guess I love it too - when Steve Martin makes it home for Thanksgiving dinner, I cry every time.
Like all classic movies, you can find its characters somewhere in your life. This year I found a couple of Del Griffiths of my own. In case you are not familiar, Del is a traveling shower curtain ring salesman who has nowhere to go for Thanksgiving. The pair of Dels at our dinner were not shower curtain ring salesmen, but teachers, American teachers at that. When you know that an American is going to be alone on Thanksgiving - even in a place where no one celebrates it - you'd have to be even meaner than Neal Page to not take them in.
Thanksgiving celebrates all that is good and idealistic about America. Sure, the Indians and Pilgrims may not have been as peaceful as the story says, and I know they didn't eat Buterball turkey. But the idea that we celebrate together despite all the things that can drive us apart is more important than green bean casserole. And truly, consciously, being thankful for all the great things in life means more than whether your pumpkin pie is any good. There are a lot of aspects about the United States that I'm not proud of, but I am proud of this holiday. I like to explain to people that we - Americans of all religions and cultures - celebrate gratitude and unity on Thanksgiving. I know you don't see it lived out in the news every day, but we still can hope.
Neal Page would not have made it to suburban Chicago without the help of Del Griffith, a burned up rental car, a bus, a broken train, a cancelled flight and a meat truck. So bringing a couple of Dels into our Thanksgiving party helped Brian and I to make it a little closer to home too.
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