Thanksgiving in Farmington, CT

Woke up yesterday morning to the sight of snow falling steadly outside our windows. Except here, the plow comes regularly .. back in Quincy it requires a Biblical snowstorm to get a plow on a side street the same day. If at all.

The folks came down from the Berkshires and up from New Jersey and we had a nice meal, with everyone's attention on how much my daughter has learned and grown in the past year or so. Because we're here and not near Boston, we're closer to those family members and already we've seen them more than we did in five years there.

It was a lovely meal, but it was also a lovely day, even with the snow and LemonTruck deciding it was time for the gear box to die.

I thought a lot about this holiday on two fronts.

First, its historical meaning and significance.

The source of the T-Day myth comes from two paragraphs -- one in a pamphlet published in 1622 titled "Mourt's Relation," another from "Of Plymouth Plantation," the diary/memoir written by Mass. Bay Colony Gov. William Bradford. That's it: two paragraphs relating to a feast of some sort to which Massasoit and about 90 native americans were invited.

For one group, it was the end of the beginning. They had endured horrible hardship, seen half of their number perish, and yet made it through. They were going to survive.

For one group, it was the beginning of the end. These white settlers who had arrived on their shore a year ago were going to stay, and more like them would arrive. They had guns, they had germs for which there was no resistance, they had plans fueled by religious fervor and the machinery of the mercantile system and their own dreams.

Within a generation or two, the two sides that came together for a feast in 1621 were fighting King Phillip's War, a guerilla conflict in which scorched earth policies and collateral damage were the rule, not the exception. Its scars persist.

On a day when Americans are thankful, the price that was paid by all involved -- espescially those from whom much was taken -- is worth remembering.

Second point: About year ago, a PBS series called "Colonial House" aired. In it, Americans from the 21st Century were sent to live in a 17th Century colonial village. They didn't fare so well, but that was besides the point: In their struggle, I saw my own struggle to find a place where my family could afford to live happily and safely, where I could make a good living, where my daughter could play and grow and thrive. It resonated. And it upset me to some degree because like the would-be settlers, I was having a hard time succeeding at my goal.

So a year later, to be here and realize that which seemed so far away has come true .. well, I have much to be thankful for. And so celebrating over a hearty meal with family and friends... it felt good.

We are indeed blessed.