Songs Of Gratitude

      I'll admit that this past Friday I missed out on the traditional Black Friday pastime of shopping 'til one drops, but only because I was saving that activity until Saturday when my daughter Theresa and her wife Callie came to town,  and then we did indeed shop until I almost dropped,

...and probably would have had we not stopped  for a meditation break.

     However on Friday night Tom and I carried out what we hope will be our Black Friday tradition from now on:  we headed out to the Old North Columbus area,

..to the historic Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church,

...for Columbus folk-singer Bill Cohen's Alternative-To-The-Black-Friday-Buying-Frenzy Thanksgiving Concert.

      Since he retired three years ago from an almost 40-year career as a National Public Radio reporter on Ohio Statehouse news, Bill Cohen has bloomed in his second career as a   folksinger,

...regaling us local folks with his beautiful tenor voice throughout the year in concerts that invariably morph into sing-alongs as we his fans join in the songs he and we love: the familiar and singable ballads, folk tunes and popular songs, especially from the 1960's.

       The cost of entrance to Bill Cohen's concerts is generally a donation at the door.  All of the money raised is then donated to a charitable cause such as the Ohio Food Bank or, in the case of  the  Thanksgiving concert, to fund Bill's wife Randi's volunteer work in the Dominican Republic, 

...where she donates her services as a translator for the doctors and nurses with the International Medical Alliance of Tennessee on their medical trips to that country.

     Though Bill performs at various locations around town, the venue for the Thanksgiving Concert is  an especially beautiful and intimate one:

 the church sanctuary,

...all decked out for Christmas.

       Though the theme of this concert was "to remind us of all the gifts we have:  nature, friends, freedom, families, music, art, our miraculous bodies and emotions",  I believe that night what we were all most grateful for was the opportunity to listen to and sing along with Bill,

...as he accompanied himself sometimes on guitar,

...sometimes on piano, and sometimes accompanied by drummer David Maywhoor.

     Bill started the concert with a zippy sing-along version of "Zippity Doo-Dah", which is his own daily morning affirmation of gratitude for waking up to another day of life.  
     For an hour and a half we listened to and sang along  with  such songs as "Thank You For Being A Friend,  "What A Wonderful World",  "Sunshine", "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning",  "Starry Starry NIghts",  "America The Beautiful", "We Shall Overcome",  and  a dozen others, including two  heart-tugging  songs of love and longing, "My Cup Runneth Over With Love" and an old World War II song about loved ones being far apart  called "I'll Be Seeing You".
      In case anyone would like to make the acquaintance or re-acquaintance of these two very beautiful songs here are the youtube links:

      "My Cup Runneth Over With Love":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2_VrjwctA

       "I'll Be Seeing You" :    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvq4OnhMEO4

       At the end of the concert Bill Cohen sent us off with the reminder to "savor every little thing that's good in life".  
       I was thankful for that reminder.