Happy Thanksgiving party people! Sure, you can spend 20 minutes reading this but then please log out and tune in to whatever corona tainted holiday experience you have created.

The unknowns are killing us. OK, maybe that’s a little dramatic but 8 months of not knowing is taking its toll. And now, here come the holidays which means we better get to planning.

First, what do we know. I’ll start by apologizing for all my Pollyanna hopes. The summer blog about Sonoma businesses reopening, the one about the vaccine being here, the one about a normal Spring semester, and let’s not forget Obama as Biden’s secretary of state, way off on that one. I was wrong, hoping that if I said it out loud it would happen-it is The Secret you know.

We know the pandemic is stronger than ever, that the danger level is higher than ever that we should continue mask wearing and social distancing and washing hands and limit interactions outside of our Coronapods. But man is this ever going to be over?

In a word yes. We will emerge, and while things will not return to where they once were, they will return, a vaccine is close, we have a new governmental direction utilizing truth and science, the news will soon focus on issues not personalities and the kids are slowly realizing that Tik Tok and other social media platforms leave you empty. Oh, there goes that Polyannaness again.

You need a win which isn’t so easy these days but is not impossible. A good book is a win, a walk is a win, playing solitaire till you win is a win, cooking together on Thanksgiving is a win, texting or facetiming important people in your life is a win, appreciating what you have is a win, donating blood is a win, loving your dog/cat/wife/boyfriend/home/friends/health/environment is a win.

And if you want a surefire win, start droppin’ Bennies.

I’ve been searching for meaning this holiday season mostly because I’m getting so little satisfaction professionally, although big ups to the district and food service for delivering 60 meals to Creekside students last Wednesday continuing a 15-year Thanksgiving tradition.

My search for meaning led me to the “Food for All” program run by my favorite fierce community educator and my choice for our next superintendent Maite Iturri (Maite laughed when I told her this but remember the Secret).  So, when Maite’s son who coordinated the volunteers said that they were not in need of any more volunteers right now, but they could use gas money for the drivers on Saturday, I walked over to El Verano and dropped a bennie.

Now, I hear what you’re saying, I’m a teacher, most of my side hustles have dried up, how can I afford this Bennie droppin’? The short answer, Covid. See, we don’t go out much any more because it’s just not the same. The other day we were having lunch at the Girl and the Fig at the corner table and even though everyone was masked and careful, when a woman sneezed in front of us the appreciation for my wild flounder meunière evaporated.

Which is not to say I’m ballin’ hard, as the kids say (or at least they used to say in the 90’s), I’m not.  I make about a third of what our recently canned superintendent makes which means my Bennie droppin’ days are few but what a great way to put a smile on people’s faces. There was a lot of joy in that El Verano office and isn’t that what the holidays are all about.

And if not a Bennie, drop a Jackie or a Hammie or a Lincie or a Washie although droppin’ a Lincie or Washie won’t have nearly the same reaction.

If you can read this, you are rich. You are above ground and have people who love you and live in paradise and (insert final Pollyanna phrase here).

Gratitude. Now screens off and go make some memories.