Happy Thanksgiving

I am trying to make a habit in my life of listing things I am thankful for on a regular basis, so I never take any of them for granted. It's helpful to have a holiday to help me make the Mother of all "Things I'm thankful for" lists. And without further ado....

While some people might feel this is simply something you HAVE to say although they might not totally mean it, I am so unbelievably thankful for my family. My mum, dad, sister, brother, and sister in law mean the world to me. I am so grateful to have their support in my life, their shoulders to cry on if needed, etc etc. They rock, every single one of them. They are my heros!

I also have a spiritual family, as in the people involved in my life through the church. I could never really express how thankful I am for them too. They to me are examples of what it really is to love one another, even when it is hard and mean and unpleasant. I'm thinking of many of them right now, and cannot seem to stop smiling.

Now, in a more musical direction...

I could never stop thanking the readers of my blog. I would keep this blog even if I had just one reader, but I love knowing there are people that actually enjoying reading my entries. I really appreciate the reader who writes to me saying they love Mahler as well. I enjoy seeing musician friends downtown who say they loved the latest entry. I also love it when strangers seek me out in an audience to ask if I'm the lady who keeps the Mahler blog! You guys are good people, to say the least.

It is impossible for me to cease thanking the wonderful media/communications/PR people who hook me up with tickets to concerts for this Mahler journey. What I love about them even more than the tickets, is that are happy to help out. Their responses to me are always gracious and supportive of my efforts. My thanks go to the good people of (in no particular order, of course) the LA Philharmonic, Cincinnati, Chicago, National, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Every single one of you, you have my thanks, my gratitude, my appreciation, and my admiration as well, for everthing you do for your orchestras.

I'm grateful to meet such cool people on my trips too, whether they be conductors, old friends from IU, new friends (often in the form of bassists, of course!) or just the person sitting next to me who enjoys Mahler as well.

I wish Gustav Mahler were around so I could thank him for his compositions. Of course my words wouldn't do it justice. Not to mention I wouldn't say anything well, I'm sure. I'd stutter, trip words up, and probably drool a bit too. Or maybe none of that would occur. Maybe I'd just go up to him fresh after a symphony with tears in my eyes, and the tracks of earlier tears down my face, or maybe I would be glowing with joy---those would be my "words" of thankfulness to Derr Mahler.

Whatever you are thankful for, I hope you have an awesome and totally kick ass Thanksgiving Day!