Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because my interpretation of this holiday is that it is an opportunity to sit around a table celebrating abundance with people I love and to take stock of what fills me with gratitude. 

This morning started with a boat ride into the sun to observe dolphins breaking the waves in pursuit of their morning feed.  We passed monkey island and butterfly beach to get there.  My own breakfast was fresh fruit, mango lassi, French press coffee and a banana honey pancake/crepe.  Then sea and sun and conversation with a woman from Germany about ashrams, holidays, Ayurvedic treatments and death customs throughout the world.  Lime soda letter writing and then something magic.

Two little kids, a boy and a girl, I’m assuming a brother and sister team, walked into the field of view.  They were a picture, straggly and cute as all get out.  He looked to be about 4, and she couldn’t have been more than 2 years older than him.  He wore jeans and a white shirt.  She had unbrushed hair in pigtails and wore a fancy-ish white skirt with a gold hem.  He carried a hoop and a tin circle, almost a cake pan but more shallow.  They were captivating even before they started their performance and entirely self-possessed.  No adult accompaniment to been found in their traveling circus. 

He started beating the tin, mostly to get anyone’s attention who hadn’t already been got.  Then she took the tin and continued the percussion while he bobbled his head so that the tassle on top made circles in the air above his head.  He girated his tiny little hips in a funny dance and contorted his body in and out of the hoop before taking back his turn at percussion.  She took her turn twisting in and out of her rubbery arms.  For a finale they put down their instrument, locked hands to feet and made somersaults in the sand.  Then they walked around and collected rupees for their performance.  Of course I was happy to oblige.

I was took taken to snap a photo, so you’ll have to draw your own. 

And may something similar happen in your day to pierce your heart with gratitude for the impromptu, simple things that make you happy and thankful.