I have been asked "who" an atheist thanks for Thanksgiving. I find that an odd question for me. I am an atheist but I don't feel the need to "thank" an invisible being who, in my opinion, doesn't exist anyway. There are a great many things I am grateful for and that is how I define my Thanksgiving holiday. Family, friends, a husband who puts up with me and even says he loves me, financial security, and a myriad of other things. Some are physical and some are spiritual. I am a member of a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church. No, it is not necessary to believe in a god to belong to a UU church. I don't attend very often because I just can't seem to get up early enough. I tend to stay up until 3AM or later. I don't know why. It became a habit after working as an RN on the second shift for 25 years. I've been retired for 10 or so years, but I still can't shake that 2nd shift sleep schedule. Anyway, a fellow UU called me yesterday wondering why he hadn't seen me around much. He told me that people "missed" me. (REALLY? I thought.) I was very touched by that statement. I had felt like there were no more faces I recognized. In fact there are a few, including the man who called. He made the gentle suggestion that if I came around more, I would get to know more of the new members. Well, duhhh. Of course I knew that, but hearing someone else make that suggestion to me has renewed my interest in getting more involved. Even if it's just going to Sunday services. I must admit I was also a bit embarrassed that he had to say that to me. But, it was the truth. Right now, I really don't have any friends. Besides my husband, that is. I used to have 3 female friends. These were my closest friends. They all died within the same year. These were the people I confided in. I really haven't met anyone else since then. Maybe I'm being too picky. Maybe I don't see them when they're right in front of me. I don't know. Which comes back to what I'm grateful for. I'm very grateful I was able to call those 3 ladies my close friends. Thank you Ruthie, Kim, and Norma. I won't forget you. As the late, great Carl Sagan observed, "To live in the hearts of others is to never die." They are in my heart.