Giving Thanks - 2015

Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. It’s less stress than Christmas, no one expects you to push your limits like New Year’s Eve, and there’s no real risk of blowing your fingers off while playing with fireworks like on The Fourth of July. On Thanksgiving, you just gather with people and eat some food (OK - a lot of food) and roll your eyes that the Detroit Lions are once again on TV. Thanksgiving also gives us a great reason to pause and reflect, before the madness that is the Holiday Season.

Here are some of the things I’m thankful for

• For my wife - she’s pretty great! We can still take in artistic events, listen to music and share childcare. Plus she willingly makes two of my favorite desserts: carrot cake, pecan pie.

• She’s also got a great voice, and it’s a joy to hear her sing...

• Our fifteen-year-old’s creative risk taking - trying out for plays, continuing to push her artistic ability.

• Plus she learned the F chord on the guitar after many struggles with it

• The eight-year-old’s rocket left arm and ability to command the strike zone.

• And that he loves a good game of Scrabble.

• The two-year-old’s grasp of language.

• And her creativity in making up games like “Mushroom Marble Whale.” This is a game where we take mancala marbles and put them on the cover of the book Whale.

• That I can still read books to her.

• That I can still make up voices for my kids’ stuffed animals and this is what makes them laugh during photo sessions.

• Making people laugh, in general, especially when I am pushing the boundaries of good taste and annoying my wife.

• For all the music in my household - even the ear worms. Lately the two-year-old subjects us to the repetition of  “The Unicorn:” a pleasant song about beautiful animals drowning in Noah’s flood as punishment for playfulness.

• That my kids can logically think about the plausibility of Noah’s Ark, but also be scared there might be some evil creature in an open closet.

• That my wife allows me to pursue this crazy voiceover business despite its uncertainty.

• That the voiceover  business is a struggle - nothing worthwhile comes easy.

• For other talented voiceover professionals and what I can learn from them.

• For the hummingbirds that visited our feeder all summer.

• For the house finches that made a nest above our downspout.

• For Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

• For Fenway park.

• For David Ortiz and his great career.

• For the Kansas City Royals - long my second favorite team in baseball.

• For my clients and our great working relationships.

• For well-written, clean copy that rolls off the tongue while recording.

• For all the great kids I coached in baseball this year - their determination to both play hard and have fun is inspiring.