What am I thankful for?

Becky Holland
The Americus Times-Recorder

November 26, 2008 12:07 am

— Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for a number of reasons. One of which is the food; two is it is not too cold and not too hot, and three, well, it is Thanksgiving.
At this time of year, we all begin to think what are we thankful for. We are thankful for our jobs, our families, friends, cars (even when it acts a little crazy), life, church, food and health.
My preacher, bless him, talked Sunday about how he was thankful for the 47 years of life he has had with his lovely wife. He even brought her to the pulpit and said so in front of everyone. Then, he said something else, about how appreciative we really are.
I started thinking about things that I was thankful for. Other than the obvious, I am pretty thankful for being free, free to choose, free to be different.
A friend of mine and I were browsing through Wal-Mart, checking out the cds.
One in particular grabbed my attention. It is by Kellie Pickler and it is called “Don’t you know you’re beautiful.” In the song, Pickler is discussing that beauty is inside.
It is a beautiful song, and touched me so that I made it my ringback tone.
Born in Texas and raised in Texas until I was 9 with a brother, who is a little bit rock and roll and one sister who was a little bit country, and another sister, who was a little bit pop. It is no wonder that I turned out to be eclectic.
That kind of sounds like some sort of disease, doesn’t it? Or an addiction. “I’m Becky Holland and I am an eclectic.”
For those few of you who don’t own an urban dictionary (and contrary to popular belief, an urban dictionary is not just for African Americans), eclectic is defined as “holding characteristics of a hipster, i.e. someone who enjoys going to cafes, bookstores, vintage shopping, indie and foreign films, and eclectics don’t care about how they look, but they also like to look as if they like to read too.”
According to the dictionary I found, on the Internet, an “eclectic appreciates cultural events and lifestyles. They are the less extreme form of a hipster and they like to discuss politics or music in general with a group of their friends over a good cup of coffee. They don’t label themselves as preppie, indie, country, rock or pop, but are in fact a mix of all.”
I can listen to certain rock and roll music, but when it comes to head banging stuff, I turn it off. Some forms of country music are stupid in my opinion, but others like Martina McBride, Kellie Pickler, Rhett Atkins and Kenny Chesney, I like, and pop, well, I grew up in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, listening to that music. My brother-in-law, M, likes the oldies, like the Beach Boys, or he used to. I can sing most of their songs. My mom plays piano at church, and my dad, well, if my dad sings then the dogs are singing, too. I play the harmonica — mostly hymns and praise songs. So, I guess you could say, I am very much eclectic in my tastes.
Being eclectic can also mean enjoying everything life has to offer, even the bad and the ugly. You don’t have to be negative either. Just go with the flow.
What do you think?
I say, relax, go live life, have fun and just be you. So being eclectic can be OK, right? (Why am I asking you? Just go with it!) Be thankful for that.
(Now if I can follow my own advice, huh?)

Becky Holland is the news and education editor of the Americus Times-Recorder. She can be reached at becky.holland@gaflnews.com or be phone at 924-2751.