hi guys.
it’s late but it’s not as late as it feels. it feels really late. i took the red eye home from seattle last night. they call it the red eye because you fly through the night and you don’t get enough sleep and you wake up with red eyes. sidenote: seattle is amazing and you should go there as soon as possible.
just wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. i picked up chris the amazing intern this morning on the way home from the airport. he spent the day with my family and it was a really great day, great to have him there and great to see a bunch of family. ran into some old friends at the beach before we ate. it’s funny how the years just fall away. do you know what i mean? i hope you feel some of that this weekend.
before we got to my aunt lorraine’s pumpkin pie (which is as good as things get), we ate turkey, and before that, my dad prayed a prayer and his prayer felt really right to me and that’s the reason i’m writing…
the short version (of the prayer) is this: “we’re thankful for this day and this food and all the people in this room. but we’re also aware that there’s a lot of people missing, and a lot of stuff that’s broken and a lot of people in need today…”
i think it was maybe the best thanksgiving prayer my dad’s ever prayed, and i just wanted to echo it here. that we hope today was a great day, that we hope you got to see a bunch of people that you love and we hope you laughed too much and ate too much and we hope the food was perfect. but we know that there’s more to the story for most of us. hard stuff. people missing from the table. elephants in the room. we know that family can be so many things: beautiful, impossible, perfect, painful. and with that, maybe today is a pretty amazing (accurate) picture of humanity: we are broken people, even on our best behavior. brothers and sisters, cousins reminded that cousins are important, children on the laps of grandparents, alcoholic aunts and uncles, “mom, the turkey is on fire”, and finally, “why won’t the dog stop barking?”.
we had some great conversations today but the football game was on and i started thinking about the football game being on in living rooms all over the country, and i started wondering if mainly it’s on because it’s easier to watch football than to actually talk to people… you have to choose to talk to people, to know people, to love them and let them love you.
but i think there’s a lot to be thankful for. we’re alive right now. we are breathing. we are loved. our lives are important. we have voices and stories and plans and dreams and ideas. we have hope. we will wake up tomorrow to a day that has never been known. we are living a life that has never been lived. we are here for a reason. we are here for more than christmas shopping. we exist to love and be loved. life comes back. things do change. storms do pass. i believe that so much right now. i have been waking up to it lately. life can be beautiful again. we have what it takes.
i speak for our entire team in saying that we are thankful for you, for your support, for this thing we get to be apart of. thank you for your stories, your kindness, your opinions. thank you for caring. it’s easier not to. thank you for caring about the people around you. thank you for being honest. thanks for coming with us on this journey, and thanks for letting us come along on yours .
happy thanksgiving.
you are certainly loved.
jamie
ps: “All is Full of Love” is a Bjork song but Death Cab made it theirs and it’s amazing and here are the words:
You’ll be given love
You’ll be taken care of
You’ll be given love
You have to trust it
Maybe not from the sources
You have poured yours
Maybe not from the directions
You are staring at
Twist your head around
It’s all around you
All is full of love
All around you
All is full of love
You just aint receiving
All is full of love
Your phone is off the hook
All is full of love
Your doors are all shut
All is full of love
PS2: right now, in the state of washington, there’s a house full of people watching hairspray and i’m pretty sure it’s as good and important as anything happening on the planet. hello to them.
-Jamie