My Thanksgiving Toast

There are many things I have to be thankful for, the principle ones being:

• My Son.
• My Granddaughter.
• My Hero, My Hero's parents (who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last weekend -- how wonderful!) and My Hero's children and son-in-law, all of whom have graciously accepted me as part of their family and re-defined "compassion" for me.

But the above is what I was thankful for last year.

This year I must add:

• Doctors Donald McCoy and Donald Levene. If it wasn't for them (as well as the stubborn insistence of My Son and My Hero), I probably wouldn't be around to celebrate this Thanksgiving.
• My friends and partners at the Movie Trading Company in Allen.
• The men and women of the Special Olympics, especially that gritty basketball team playing under the banner of the Highland Park Scots.
• Medicare.
• All those who take the time to read my meanderings here.

And, to a lesser degree:

• The 11-0 Texas Longhorns, who better not let up tonight (but because the rest of the Big 12 seems so inferior this year, I really don't know just how good the 'Horns are).
• The New York Yankees (I practically grew up at the old Yankee Stadium) for returning the MLB World Championship where it belongs.
• The Dallas Mavericks.
• The continued excellence of Michael Caine and Sean Penn.
• Elizabeth Banks, my nominee this year as the most underrated actor working today.
• Netflix.
• Amazon.com
• Hammacher Schlemmer
• The Boss, although, because I believe we'll never see him perform live again with the E-Street Band, I wish he had included Dallas on his farewell tour.