Our Thanksgiving Parade Leads into the Pool

Gratitude? In our tiny nuclear family, we pinch ourselves for our good fortune. But on a ritualized celebration like Thanksgiving? That's another story.

Our clans are small and scattered. Our five-year-old has zero interest in walking across the park to watch the Thanksgiving parade. More to the point, we're far too cynical to be fooled by the antique "message" of Thanksgiving --- outside of TV movies, does anyone still believe this long weekend has any connection to expressing thanks for the harvest?

Not to be a curmudgeon, but how do you build "tradition" on such a frail foundation?

Answer: You can't. In any event, we can't. But we don't scoff at the national turkey, football and shopping orgy, we just retreat into sanity and do whatever amuses us, without any attempt at continuity.

Early in June, Miami hotels practically pay you to come down, so off we went to South Beach. The hotel had a well-heated, zero-entry pool, ideal for a child who loves to swim but couldn't yet master the technique. Our daughter and I spent about six hours a day in the pool that week. Ask anyone who's spent sustained time making up pool games with a little kid --- the pleasure of a small, grinning head in the water is hard to beat.

So, this Thanksgiving, you'll find us near West Point. We chose that unlikely destination because it's home to the closest motel that has an indoor pool for father and daughter and a Jacuzzi for mom. And it's near Bear Mountain, where we can hike through woods preserved forever (thanks to generous gifts a century ago by the Harrimans, Rockefellers and Morgans).

I should add that we'll just be a few miles from an outlet mall with 220 stores. Without doubt, we'll pay our respects. And if that isn't honoring a great American tradition, what is?

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