On this Thanksgiving:

I thank God that I live in a country that follows my personal philosophy: love God and smash your enemy in the mouth if you think they might have something you don’t want them to have and might possibly be thinking of using it against you or your friends, and not be sorry about it even if they didn’t have it and you pretty much lied about them having it in the first place. That’s America!

I thank God that I have friends who help me to enjoy the good things in life, especially the late Taffy and Candi who entertained me and helped me manage an unexpected windfall and shielded me from those who objected to me helping myself to the American dream at the local bank, helping me to define my life’s purpose, mission and vocation, allowing my family to progress.

Finally, I thank God for my five daughters – Danneya, Sherena, Aldenya, Britenee and Mariah, for trusting and supporting me even when they saw me covered with blood, with a meat clever in one hand and Taffy’s head in the other. I am so proud and happy that that dire circumstance did not fill them with a spirit of fear or bitterness.

Instead, they are tenacious and determined to prove my innocence and free me by any means necessary from my unfair and unjust circumstances.

I also thank God for lime jello Thursdays here at the pen.

Danold Elliot, Milan