Hey gang, welcome to November as we move closer to the end of 2025. If you live in the States like I do, you are gearing up for this coming Thursday and our American Thanksgiving. Plenty of folks from coast to coast will enjoy traditional holiday foods, football, and even the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. That parade marks the unofficial start of Christmas season and the sales that kick off the next day on Black Friday.
I bring this up because for many years I have felt that the corporate machine has ruined the importance of Thanksgiving by rushing straight into Christmas to start selling presents and make billions in profit. I am very pro capitalism and I understand that is how the world works. Still, I think there is a place and time for everything. Not every holiday needs people rushing out to spend a stupid amount of money to enjoy it.
This year, take a moment to think about the meaning behind the holiday. In 1621, people celebrated Thanksgiving for a much different reason than we do today. If you are someone who grumbles that there is nothing to be thankful for, let me hit you with some seriousness. If you cannot find a single thing to be grateful for, that makes you ungrateful. Yes, I said it, and I mean it. There is always a silver lining. Things can always be worse. If you feel like you are at the bottom of the barrel right now, remember that you are still alive. In the past decade I have known more than a dozen people who cannot say the same because they are no longer here.
Be grateful to be alive. Not everything has to be about spending money.
Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I came across a video of a woman complaining that her husband was at work and that after bills they did not have the money for a big expensive Thanksgiving meal. That sat wrong with me. I am going to tell you a quick story and then move on.
It was 1996. I was nineteen and had been married for only ten months. We lived in Prescott, Arkansas. I was a Certified Nursing Assistant working nights in a nursing home making $4.75 an hour. Since I was fairly new, I had to work that Thanksgiving. My biological dad had a hearty meal with friends, but we were not invited. So my wife and I scraped together what we had and walked to a nearby convenience store to buy our Thanksgiving dinner.
What was it, you ask?
Two pre-made turkey sandwiches, a two liter of soda, and two packs of cupcakes. We did not complain. We were thankful for what we had. Almost thirty years later, that is still one of the most special Thanksgivings I have ever had.
All right. As promised last issue, let us talk about the elephant in the room and why I had spinal surgery last month on the seventeenth. For eight years I worked as a CNA. Being six foot one and around two hundred thirty to two hundred fifty pounds, I handled the physical labor easily. I worked nights, earned a night differential, and the job eventually became automatic. My body worked while my mind thought about stories, which I wrote down later.
In my late twenties I went back to school and became a Critical Care Technician. The workload was less, but still physical. Around the time my middle child was born, I left that job and took a desk position as a Monitor Technician. By then I was in my mid thirties and my back hurt almost all the time. I went to the doctor again and again, but he kept telling me I was too young for surgery. I pushed through for another fifteen years. If you are doing the math, I am almost forty nine now. I finally convinced him to give me a referral to an orthopedic surgeon.
From all those years of medical work, my spine was shot. The surgeon gave me a choice on what to fix first. My neck is technically worse than my lower back, but my lower back caused the most pain, so I chose that. The plan was to do it around this time, but they had a cancellation last month and asked if I wanted to move up the surgery.
They did a great job and I feel like I am healing quickly. At least I think so. I know this was a long commentary and I have not even mentioned the new design or everything that went into bringing you this new version of the magazine. That will have to wait.
With respect to you all!
David K. Montoya
Founder of The World of Myth Magazine And Other Stuff Too.
Hey gang, welcome to November as we move closer to the end of 2025. If you live in the States like I do, you are gearing up for this coming Thursday and our American Thanksgiving. Plenty of folks from coast to coast will enjoy traditional holiday foods, football, and even the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. That parade marks the unofficial start of Christmas season and the sales that kick off the next day on Black Friday.
I bring this up because for many years I have felt that the corporate machine has ruined the importance of Thanksgiving by rushing straight into Christmas to start selling presents and make billions in profit. I am very pro capitalism and I understand that is how the world works. Still, I think there is a place and time for everything. Not every holiday needs people rushing out to spend a stupid amount of money to enjoy it.
This year, take a moment to think about the meaning behind the holiday. In 1621, people celebrated Thanksgiving for a much different reason than we do today. If you are someone who grumbles that there is nothing to be thankful for, let me hit you with some seriousness. If you cannot find a single thing to be grateful for, that makes you ungrateful. Yes, I said it, and I mean it. There is always a silver lining. Things can always be worse. If you feel like you are at the bottom of the barrel right now, remember that you are still alive. In the past decade I have known more than a dozen people who cannot say the same because they are no longer here.
Be grateful to be alive. Not everything has to be about spending money.
Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I came across a video of a woman complaining that her husband was at work and that after bills they did not have the money for a big expensive Thanksgiving meal. That sat wrong with me. I am going to tell you a quick story and then move on.
It was 1996. I was nineteen and had been married for only ten months. We lived in Prescott, Arkansas. I was a Certified Nursing Assistant working nights in a nursing home making $4.75 an hour. Since I was fairly new, I had to work that Thanksgiving. My biological dad had a hearty meal with friends, but we were not invited. So my wife and I scraped together what we had and walked to a nearby convenience store to buy our Thanksgiving dinner.
What was it, you ask?
Two pre-made turkey sandwiches, a two liter of soda, and two packs of cupcakes. We did not complain. We were thankful for what we had. Almost thirty years later, that is still one of the most special Thanksgivings I have ever had.
All right. As promised last issue, let us talk about the elephant in the room and why I had spinal surgery last month on the seventeenth. For eight years I worked as a CNA. Being six foot one and around two hundred thirty to two hundred fifty pounds, I handled the physical labor easily. I worked nights, earned a night differential, and the job eventually became automatic. My body worked while my mind thought about stories, which I wrote down later.
In my late twenties I went back to school and became a Critical Care Technician. The workload was less, but still physical. Around the time my middle child was born, I left that job and took a desk position as a Monitor Technician. By then I was in my mid thirties and my back hurt almost all the time. I went to the doctor again and again, but he kept telling me I was too young for surgery. I pushed through for another fifteen years. If you are doing the math, I am almost forty nine now. I finally convinced him to give me a referral to an orthopedic surgeon.
From all those years of medical work, my spine was shot. The surgeon gave me a choice on what to fix first. My neck is technically worse than my lower back, but my lower back caused the most pain, so I chose that. The plan was to do it around this time, but they had a cancellation last month and asked if I wanted to move up the surgery.
They did a great job and I feel like I am healing quickly. At least I think so. I know this was a long commentary and I have not even mentioned the new design or everything that went into bringing you this new version of the magazine. That will have to wait.
With respect to you all!
David K. Montoya
Founder of The World of Myth Magazine
And Other Stuff Too.