This Thursday, Nov. 25 is Thanksgiving.
While last year — 2020 — was one of the roughest globally since the Great Recession or even the end of World War II, depending on who you ask, 2021 has been a vast improvement as life approaches normal.
For those who have not gotten sick from COVID-19, or overcame it with minimal symptoms, or got vaccinated to prevent a serious case, there is our health, knock on wood.
While some of us may have lost friends or family due to COVID-19 or a host of other causes of death and been unable to attend funeral services because travel was limited or services did not take place, we have been able for the most part to meet up with family this year to grieve together.
One can wake up on one side of the world and be almost anywhere on the planet within 36 hours, meaning viruses can spread just a fast. But it also means we can transport vaccines and medical professionals and equipment to slow or stop deadly diseases, if we work together.
We can also be thankful that we live here, in this place, which many of us long-term residents may forget, having seen the red rocks and same views day after day.
Sedona is a location that many around the world long to visit, even if only for a few days, but we get to live here long term and take the time to explore the trails, canyons and secret places that most will never see. Over the last two years, hundreds of thousands of visitors have come to visit that which we admittedly often take for granted.
Our sunsets are among the most beautiful in the world, which I tell my friends and family elsewhere is a matter of fact, not opinion. The skies here may not always be amazing, but when they are, they look like the skies Renaissance Italian painters tried to capture.
We can also take advantage of the local offerings by nonprofits, clubs and businesses to share a Thanksgiving meal — such as the one offered by the Daher family at Coffee Pot Restaurant.
Thanksgiving events like these allows us space to make peace with our neighbors and remind ourselves of what unites us: Our shared experiences, Sedona and the Verde Valley we call home and pie. Enjoy a hearty meal, good conversation and feeling part of a group doing good works for our community. The goal is to keep that feeling not only through the holidays but all year long and until next Thanksgiving.
Our technology can also connect us when we can’t meet or when we deem the risk too high, the distance too far or the cost too expensive.
Whether you plan to visit friends or family in person locally or follow medical guidelines and not travel, but celebrate Thanksgiving via video conference, we can still celebrate with family. One of the benefits of the pandemic is that it normalized meetings via video chat not just for business discussions but for family and community gatherings. Video conferencing technology didn’t vastly improve between 2019 and 2021, but its ubiquitousness did. Most of us now have some sort of video chat software on our phones, tablets and computers. This type of communication will only improve as time goes by and remote connections become more commonplace both professionally and personally.
That said, a long-distance Thanksgiving via video will never take the place of an in-person gathering with family we can touch and hug, but it is better than a decade ago when we only had cell phones with prohibitively expensive long-distance phone bills or 30 years ago when we only had land lines.
Whether you go out locally, stay in, volunteer to serve, travel to family or have family visit you, connect via video chat over the internet or just make a long phone call, Thanksgiving isn’t about the food, it’s about being a part of a sincerely thankful community and thanking friends and family for making you the person you are.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
