The Wonder of It All - Day 0 - Thanksgiving

“The Wonder of It All”

11/26/15, “Thanksgiving”

John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK)

It’s all so familiar, being at this airport on Thanksgiving, getting ready to fly to some exotic location.  Two years ago it was Iran, last year India, and this year I had hoped to go to Iraq, to keep in line with the alliteration.  That was not an option due to the security situation.  I chose something a little safer: Egypt.  Even Egypt is not the safest place in the world right now, but I am going to the “safe” part of Egypt, the sweet spot in the Nile Valley that has avoided the Sinai insurgency and is far enough from the borders with Sudan and Libya to avoid those conflicts.  I am going to see the Pyramids and ancient Alexandria.

I am not scared about getting attacked.  I have made my peace.  Guatemala and Honduras were far more dangerous.  Worse still, nowhere is safe.  As we learned two weeks ago, a European capital can just as easily be attacked as one in the Middle East.  When I set out to see the world, I did not set out to see the “safe” parts of the world.  I set out to see the world.  I am worried about the usual things, though.  I will be in Egypt for less than 48 hours, but I only want to see two things: the Pyramids and the remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria (now a Citadel), two of the Wonders of the Ancient World, hence the title I have assigned to this trip.

Just as when I went to Iran two years ago, my worries are that I won’t be able to see both sites in my short time, that I’ll run out of battery on my cell phone when I’m trying to take a picture, that kind of stuff.  I have put my affairs in order, just in case, such as they are, but that is just good sense to have done, regardless of where I am travelling.  In twelve hours, I will be landing in Egypt, and, though I haven’t really finalized my schedule yet.  I might just go straight to Alexandria.  Alright, enough about this.

It’s Thanksgiving.  What I am thankful for this year?  One thing, above all else: my friendships.  I will not enumerate the friends who mean the most in the world to me.  You know who you are.  I am never hesitant to tell my friends how much they mean to me.  The wonderful thing about friendships is they are completely voluntary.  Once you leave elementary school, no one forces you to be friends with anyone.  Seven billion people on this planet, and you meet tens of thousands of them throughout your life, and most of them you never see again.  The ones you remain friends with, you do so by choice.

The friends who mean the most to me I have met through such a variety of ways, whether I met them in elementary school, collecting autographs, at work, or at the cigar shop.  Even in such groups I have met hundreds of people, maybe thousands, but I have only chosen to remain friends with maybe two from each group.  I am thankful for each and every one of those friendships: the one person who can always brighten my day with a single text, the one I think of every time I see a picture of a puppy, the one who I’m willing to go to Brooklyn once a month to see, the guys I hang out with the most, the one who can engage me literally for hours in endless debate on almost any topic, and, of course, the one who has been at my side for 21 years, whose side I was glad to be at when he get married last night.  I will not name names, the people I just mentioned will know who they are if they are reading this.

That is what I am thankful for this year.  It has been a rough year for me, and having such friends has made it one of the best years of my life.  Never have I needed the Christmas spirit, and, when I get back to New York, the Christmas spirit will be in full swing.  Okay, so what happened with Day 0? We got home from the wedding late last night, and I woke up as the Parade was starting.  I needed this.  I had a bagel and some coffee for breakfast, but we were eating dinner in a few hours.  I just cared about the parade.  I knew who was coming: Santa.  At noon, his float would appear, and I’d know the Christmas season had begun.  I needed it.  I lit up my 2012 Christmas Pipe and watched as Mariah Carey sang “All I Need for Christmas Is You.”  Then I saw him: Santa.  I started crying, so happy that Christmas was coming.  Is Santa real?  He is if you believe.  I then went outside to finish my pipe and get ready.

We had to be at my parents’ friends’ house by 12:45 PM.  We had an enjoyable time, and the food was good, but I didn’t have much of an appetite.  In fact, my appetite has been sporadic all week, not quite sure the explanation.  I ordered an Uber to take me to the airport and said my goodbyes, telling my mother where I had left instructions in case the one in a million came true and something happened over there.  The car came, and I asked the driver if I could smoke.  To my surprise, he said that I could if I opened the window.  I lit up a Punch cigar, finishing it outside the airport when we arrived.  I breezed through security and headed to my gate, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish before we board.