Give Thanks

It was a “threefer” this past weekend.

About six months back, I noticed that the birthday of our youngest child, Gregory, would fall over Thanksgiving weekend this year. We were also due for our 2019 annual family gift of experience, a special trip we take each year in lieu of giving birthday presents to one another. It also turned out that Thanksgiving would be the holiday where our entire clan would get together this year. We have always swapped hosting this holiday and Christmas so our blended family could spend time with their loved ones on opposing holidays. (Mark with his dad, Jeff and Melissa and their families with their mom, and so forth.) So with Thanksgiving being “our year” and with a birthday to celebrate, and with a gift of experience to take, we hauled the family to Las Vegas.

Off we went, eleven of us from age 2 to over 70. We are a menagerie when we travel, but boy do we have fun. While Las Vegas seems the antithesis of the Thanksgiving holiday, it was perfect. First of all, Gregory loves the location, and frankly we all do. There’s something for everyone, from shopping to gambling to the pyramids at the Luxor or New York-New York’s roller coaster or the mini Eiffel Tower that had my 10-year-old grandson mesmerized. We had a blast.

You haven’t lived through a yummy Thanksgiving dinner until you try Bouchon by Thomas Keller. This is where Grant saw the book for the first time, Magic in the Mundane, which he illustrated for me this summer. The next evening we were off to Picasso, an amazing two-star at Bellagio, where around another big round table we sat talking about our day and enjoying the menu, the priceless art around us, delicious food, and those magical fountains outside showing off every 15 minutes.

Some of us went to David Copperfield, who embodies the very notion of magic, the greatest illusionist in the world. We were in awe. Earlier we went to the Titanic Exhibition to take in a very real dose of history. There’s something for everyone on our trips, and dinners are the center piece of our day, when we all gather for cocktails and to break bread.

On our last evening together we went to Cipriani, Gregory’s favorite and a perfect spot for his birthday “gift of experience.” Around another round table we sat. While big plates of veal ragù on tagliatelle and Bolognese with penne went around the table family-style, we enjoyed an amazing bottle of Barollo and yucked it up. We passed plates, tasted each other’s meals, polished off two margherita pizzas, and felt like we were in Italy, summed up by the gelato going around the table at the end.

At one point I sat back and watched my family. I got tears in my eyes seeing the fun everyone was having, the joy we were blessed to experience, and the moment in all its perfection. Life doesn’t get better, and I was moved.

And then for some reason I turned around, and by the front door stood a homeless man, bags and all, entering the restaurant and taking a look around. I saw a security man gently intercept him and guide him back out through the doors of the restaurant and then outside the mall environment in which it was housed. The temp that night was in the forties, and I couldn’t get my mind off that gentleman. I got up, went out the front door, asked where he went. It was too late.

What I wanted to do was buy that man a fresh warm, satisfying meal and make sure someone who needed it was taken care of. I asked the host to please give him a meal on us if he returned. It was not to be. He was off wandering somewhere outside, the spirit of Thanksgiving going with him. I hope he knows someone cared about him. I hated being a few minutes too late.

I returned to the table knowing how blessed we are, vowing to take care of a family this holiday season something that I can do year-round. With that thought I realized I will never forget that man and what he stood for that special day.

Make every day about giving thanks and giving back.