When Simon, poor thing, emerged from his struggle with death and came into the big pasture and uttered his great bray of greeting to me that morning at Bedlam Farm, I called it the “Call To Life” and it may have been the only donkey bray in history that was heard around the world, it captured a feeling, a moment, an affirmation that resonated with so many people in so many places, it resonates still. Every time I see Simon, he sounds his roller-coaster, warbly bray of affection – some say it is a call of gratitude.
Whatever it is, it is a powerful sound and I am happy to put it up here for all of you to see, it seems apt on Thanksgiving. In between eating, Simon reminds us to pause and count our blessings, most especially the gift of life, in all of it’s ups and downs, imperfections, struggles and joys. Everyone else might be rushing off to the mall or watching TV, but my wish for you is that you find a corner of your world and utter your own call to life, your own determination to live a meaningful life.
Yesterday a kind of bronchitis overwhelmed me, I got sick and lost my voice. I suppose, given the past week, it ought not to be a surprise to me, it always is. My wife doesn’t seem as concerned about this as she might be, she says I sound like a squeaky little duck – Daffy Duck perhaps. She keeps chuckling and says she is intrigued by the idea of a soft-spoken me. I am heading to the doctors this morning, then we are taking off for Vermont to an inn we love for two days to rest, be with one another and get fed well. No better place to spend Thanksgiving for us.
Maria says a “voiceless Jon Katz is intriguing,” she is going to have some fun with it. I will find a way to communicate, especially my great love for her. I have books and music, I am good.
It is bittersweet in some ways, neither of us are in a position to do the traditional family Thanksgiving thing for all kinds of reasons that do not need to be shared, but are still sad. Maria and are building our own traditions, new traditions, we are very much family to one another. I am so grateful for her, for my life, for my daughter in Brooklyn, for my work, photos, friends, the animals on the farm, this remarkable community that seems to have sprung up around me, that means you, for my new book, the-book-that-won’t quit, for our farm for every day of my life.
Like you, my life has ups, downs, crisis, mystery, joy and sorrow, that is the very definition of life, and my goal is to look back one day and say I finally learned to live it fully and well. I honor the creative spark, I give thanks for it. I wish all of you the most meaningful Thanksgiving. Your lives are important, your stories are important, you have to right to be fulfilled. Give thanks for your life do not speak ill of it.
Get to it.
Come and see Simon and his “Call To Life,” and hear his message.