I'm Thankful for ... the Cornucopia of America

(Nov. 23) -- I just returned from several weeks zigzagging up, down and across our country on a book and play tour for "Changing Shoes," my book and play of the same name. This Thanksgiving my gratitude is for all the people I met when I ventured out of my New York City life. And that gratitude is immense.

As I traveled our United States, the first thing I stumbled upon as I alighted from my bright blue minivan was a beautiful fountain shooting bright pink water in Pittsburgh in honor of Breast Cancer Month. A few hours later, while I was happily eating my turkey sandwich, some very bloody zombies with torn wedding dresses and axes in their heads sat down next to me. Most amusing dining companions I will ever have, I am sure. But in some ways it was as formidable as the Indians and Pilgrims must have felt when they first saw each another. (There was a Zombie Fest that bright October day in Pittsburgh -- it sort of took my breath away.)

On to Cincinnati, where I had a UPS moment sending huge boxes of my props and shoes for my play on to Houston, the next venue, and laughing with all the men in brown in the middle of the night as they tried to help me squeeze the last pink boot under the cardboard flaps and struggled with the magic carpet (a rug in the play that followed me wherever I went -- if only it could have flown all those props and boxes down to Houston).

When the minivan's Garmin (GPS) told us we had arrived at our destination in Dayton, Ohio, it was not the mall we expected but something far better. There before us was what the Pilgrims must have seen hundreds of years ago -- a huge cornfield of brilliant gold. Nearby there was apple picking and sweet potatoes for sale by Amish girls who were selling their produce right next to a Harley motorcycle gang -- one of whom willingly let me sit on his brand-new, bright red Harley.

Next I zagged to Florida where I spoke at a retirement home in the morning and in the afternoon met with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club in Hobe Sound. It was all a fabulous cornucopia of human exchange.

Houston was the last stop on my trip (it was now the end of October), and here the thing I was most grateful for was meeting our former President George H.W. Bush and his oh-so-lovely wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, who had come to see my one-woman show. Only in America could one meet and chat with a former president as one had chatted with the men sending the UPS packages a week earlier.

I saw the amber waves of grain, the spacious skies. I saw the America that God shed his grace upon. I am so grateful to be a citizen of the beauty and bounty and majesty. To be part of what is the dichotomy of pink fountains and red Harleys; of aging retirement homes and boys and girls clubs; of malls and grain fields; which all started so long ago with the dichotomy of Pilgrims and Indians relishing one another and feasting together.

For 26 years, Tina Sloan played the role of nurse Lillian Raines on "Guiding Light," which aired its final episode in 2009. Read about her book, "Changing Shoes," and her one-woman show of the same name on Red Room.


Thanksgiving Week Special: I'm Thankful for ...
We asked a successful businessman, a former soap opera star, best-selling novelists and other popular writers to share what they are thankful for this year. The articles will run throughout Thanksgiving week.

Monday: A Moment in September -- Jessica Barksdale Inclan
Monday: My Writing Life -- Meg Waite Clayton
Tuesday: Long-Distance Love -- Kathy Briccetti
Tuesday: The Cornucopia of America -- Tina Sloan
Tuesday: A Special Photograph – Tim Wise
Wednesday: Garlic – Crescent Dragonwagon
Wednesday: Expressions of Gratitude -- Jacqueline Winspear
Wednesday: All of My Feelings -- Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy
Thursday: Entertaining Strangers -- Pat Montandon
Thursday: Being Home Together -- Kerry Madden
Friday: The Chance to Give Back -- Wally Amos
Friday: A'isha, the Jewel of Medina – Sherry Jones