Terry, so lovely to read this.

My wife has been a pianist since 6 years old. I always loved to hear her play, but for the Last 10 years  or so, she doesn’t play much. But for the last months she has nursed and cared for me beyond measure. But the most significant enjoyment I’ve received is listening to her softly playing. On this special day, I give thanks to this special person in my life, and her talent with the ivory.

Don, what a wonderful thing your son did for you!  He must love you a lot.

Dusty I love that - so simple yet so true! Like a true companion... 

It's remarkable how long ago I wrote that original piece. And after all this time, I am even more grateful for the camaraderie we have created here at FOTMD.  (I wonder if Strumelia knew what a community she was creating back when she first had that brilliant idea to develop this site.)

I hope you can all enjoy Thanksgiving safely this year. 

And yes, @don-grundy, let's all play our dulcimers and express thanks that we have such a fulfilling hobby, something needed these days more than ever.  Like a true companion, my dulcimer helps me celebrate when days are bright and lament when they're gloomy.

I just found this wonderful article on how to enjoy your holidays this year if you are by yourself at home...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/us/how-to-spend-holidays-alone-wellness-trnd/index.html

Thank you, Lisa, for starting this website, and giving all of us a way to connect, instruct, and bless one another.  This has been especially important these last 9 months.  May you and yours have a truly blessed Thanksgiving.  And that goes for all of the other members here, as well!

Another year passed. I wish all FOTMD members a warm and healthy Thanksgiving.  We share our little online 'family' here with affection and gratitude.

The Crescent PA Turkeys have just dropped by (first time this year!) to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Best wishes to you all.

Barb, Blackdogbess

Turkeys.jpg  •  507KB

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

Its amazing how things have changed.  I wrote the original post that starts this thread when I was just starting out on the dulcimer and knew no one who plays.  Now I have students who work with me weekly, a monthly gathering, and a couple of annual festivals.  And through that entire evolution, I've relied on all the friends here at FOTMD to share our musical passion.  Without all of you to share my interest in things dulcimer, my life would be genuinely impoverished.  Thank you all.

I wish you all a peaceful Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Strumelia!  

Wishing everyone here a meaningful Thanksgiving! 

Nice to once again look over this thread of giving thanks.  I feel blessed to be here and privileged to have so many online friends through our shared love of music. I feel a positive connection to you good folk who participate here on FOTMD currently, and to our friends who have been here in the past. 

May you all have a wonderful day tomorrow, hopefully experiencing (or even creating) something meaningful to you.  

For our first grand daughter, all smiles and love!!!

DAN

www.dulcimore.com

I am thankful for the comfort, solace music has brought me, most especially, over recent years.  And for FOTMD friends and our own Strumelia!  

Thank you, Dusty and all of our dulcimer family.  My dulcimer is my refuge and happy place.  

Thanks to Dusty for writing his heartfelt feelings 8 years ago, and Lisa for bumping it up to present day. I began my dulcimer journey 04/2012. Not sure, but I think I discovered FOTMD around 06/2012. It's been a wonderful journey. Changed my whole life. I have often pondered what singular word best describes this journey. "Peace". Always comes to mind. There is something about playing a dulcimer ever so gently, very softly, that just transfers you to another zone. Life is indeed good, with a dulcimer in my life

Yes, I'm thankful as well that Jeannie has emerged from the ashes of Paradise even if she lost her home and nearly everything they owned.

Thankful that I saw "Jeanne in Paradise" and her husband are safe from the Cali fires.  They lost their house and her dulcimers to the flames, but that can be replaced...

I thought I'd bump up this 8 year old FOTMD thread that @dusty-turtle posted while pondering Thanksgiving and being thankful.  

The Summer of 2019 will mark FOTMD's tenth year since its humble beginnings.  I'm serious when i say that every single day I continue to feel thankful for being able to 'know' all the wonderful members on this site (and also ones I initially knew prior to that, on the now-gone Everythingdulcimer site). 
Knowing FOTMD members who have been here from the beginning, those dear members who have passed away, those who may come and go, and those who arrive new and full of enthusiasm each week...  it's an honor to know you all and count you as Friends.

A copy of this post is also found on Everything Dulcimer. Please excuse the repetition.

On the eve of Thanksgiving and the coldest day of the year so far in Northern California, while chopping vegetables in preparation for tomorrow's feast, I watched my daughter sitting on our couch in between my parents as the three of them wrote the fifth or sixth chapter of what has become an on-going story about two families of grasshoppers who learned to put aside their differences and get along together. The joy they all obviously felt in their collaboration, though, pales in comparison with the joy I felt observing it. Indeed, my family is healthy and we have many relatives and friends to be thankful for.

But I am also thankful for all of you.

With the exception of one day in July 2009 when I attended the Redwood Dulcimer Day, my entire dulcimer experience has been digital. I first discovered the instrument in a YouTube video by Stephen Seifert, I located a luthier online and contacted him via email, and I learned my first half-dozen songs by copying YouTube videos. Other than that one day in Santa Cruz, the only dulcimer I've ever heard live has been my own, and I know no one in my "real" life who plays.

But here I am, over 18 months after obtaining my first dulcimer. I still play as often as work and family allow, and I am still enthusiastic about the instrument.

The fact that I am still so excited about playing this instrument is certainly due in large part to the support and camaraderie I've discovered at ED and FOTMD. These two websites have remained an important part of my dulcimer life for the last year and without all of your friendly and supportive enthusiasm, I don't know whether I would still be playing the dulcimer. I would like to think my love for the instrument is genuine and would have lasted anyway, but I don't know whether I would have continued to study the instrument if I had no one to share that interest with.

So I say to you all, thank you. You have helped sustain a joy in my life that I hold precious.

I do indeed hope one day to meet many of you in person, but even if that day never happens, I will always be thankful for the interactions we've had online.

And no, I'm not crying; I've just been chopping onions.