Thanksgiving Blessings
Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 12:01AM | Neill Archer Roan | Permalink tagged Thanksgiving | in Holiday 
I have been sitting here tonight before the fire - with a wee dram of Bunnahabbain Scotch - smoking my Dunhill Dublin (the pipe given by the Warrior) reflecting on my many blessings. This last year has been brimming with them, and I’m so grateful.
For the many friends this pipe hobby has given me, I’m grateful. For the amazing gifts of affection, support, and and mentorship, I’m blessed. I have been blessed to travel and meet many readers here. Your friendship and warmth will never be forgotten.
Many of you have written me letters and email messages and for those sentiments, I’m truly grateful. A number of those messages came at times when I have struggled to figure out what and how to write here. Sometimes it feels like I’m running dry. You must know how that feels.
Nick, thank you for supporting this site. Without you, I simply couldn’t afford the ongoing cost of operating it. Robert, thank you for making impossible additions to my collection possible by lowering pipe prices and waiting forever to be paid for them, and - more importantly - thank you for your trust, your affection, and your heart-big-as-the-world. Tim and Mark, thank you for the Blue Riband cabinet.
Richard, thank you for refreshing my flagging spirit and for giving my marriage the breathing room and focus it needed so very much. Jeff, thanks for hauling my big posterior around to meet so many friends. Jim, thank you for propping me up at a difficult time. It is amazing you do so from so very far away. Rick, thank you for your graceful example and for your friendship. Warren, thank you for your passion for pipes, for your sensitivity and friendship, and for your exquisite taste and gentlemanly example of what a truly thoughtful and supportive friend can be. Fred, thank you for your laughter and for the several kicks in the posterior you gave me when I required them. Adam, thank you for the playful inspiration and youthfulness you bring into my life. Jeff, thank you for reminding me that people come first and pipes come second and for pointing out examples where this has sadly been forgotten.
Last, but never least, thank you to you readers and commenters who make this blog worth it on a day-to-day basis. It is a labor of love that I do for you.
I wish all of you and yours the most blessed and peaceful of holidays. May your family and friends be warm, safe, and beloved by you and others. May abundance and peace of mind come to you throughout the coming year. May you love, be loved, forgive, and be forgiven.
God bless your dreams with fulfillment and your regrets with a bad memory.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Reader Comments (13)
Neill - I am honored to be among those who you have mentioned above and know that this only hints at the numbers of people who call you "friend". When we first met I believe we were both a little shocked at our convergent interests and obsessions. This shock has evolved into an ongoing conversation that covers topics likely to cause most of the world's citizens to go cross-eyed and that certainly does cause the staff at the Dogfish Head Alehouse to regard us with a mixture of caution and clinical fascination. My Thanksgiving message back to you is not only one of appreciation for our friendship but of thanks as well for introducing me to many of the folks whose names appear in this post and to many others in and out of our hobby. Of course I'd like also to send out my wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to all of your readers!
Neill Happy Thanksgiving, I posted 1000 blend club prematurely. After lots of reading on this site thanks to Bruce Blum I now realize I am not alone with my deep passion for pipes and tobacco. I can smoke all the different tobacco I want to. I had some strange notion I should be smoking 1 or 2 blends. This site and your writings make me feel right at home. My wife asked me the other day when I was looking for a new Heeschen, do you really need another pipe? Yes! Does she really need more jewelry and dresses. Pipes and tobacco are my jewelry and dresses. Kinda. Anyway thanks for this great site, Happy Thanksgiving.
Matty
Hi Neill,
Thank you for being such a great friend and for being such a great friend to our hobby. Your blog is in my opinion now the very best pure pipe blog of which I am aware, anywhere in the world. It is due to your competence, diligence, devotion, and great passion for pipes.
Fred
Neill,
I wish you and Wendy a very happy Thanksgiving. I'm fortunate to be spending my second Thanksgiving happily married to someone who brings so many new things into my life, and sometimes need to reflect that the little things are more important than simply working to the bones. It's always great to see you at a show, or chat on the phone. Humor is something that everyone needs; along with knowledge, understanding, and acceptance. Thankfully, you have all of these qualities and share them liberally.
Have a great day Neill.
When all the great pipes and baccy's are smoked out it's friends that count!
Neill,
Happy Holidays. Your a good friend and I enjoy my time with you. Yes, I'm sitting here smoking the Stonehenge tobacco and thinking of Chicago. When the Philly crew will see you again. Again, Happy Holidays from your Philadelphia pipe friends.
Neill,
I am a quiet reader here, and have never commented previously. But you used a phrase above that goads me to write: labor of love. It was the phrase that Tom Dunn always used to describe The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris. It reminded me that your blog has done so much to fill the chasm left by Tom's passing and the end of that wonderful publication. So on this Thanksgiving Day, 2010, let me offer my heartfelt thanks for your "labor of love."
Thanks for doing what you do! I enjoy every post and the comments too. Dave
Neill,
Thanks for sharing this posting. Your labor of love is one I enjoy daily. I thank you for this Blog and for your friendship.
Robert "Lawdog" Lawing
Neill,
I'm in Chicago with family and other relatives for the Thanksgiving weekend and just read this post. What a wonderful message!
Gratitude is the key to happiness, and I am very grateful for A Passion for Pipes..
Cheers,
Rick
Clearly I am not alone in appreciation of your efforts. insights and passion, not just for pipe but also for life that clearly emerges in that posting of this blog. Although it is about the hobby with which we all share such enthusiasm, at its core it is very much about life and an approach to living it.
Each of us is made a bit better and a bit more civilized by our visits to A Passion for Pipes and by our friendship with you, Neill.
Thank you so much for all you add to our lives.
Richard
The guys above said it better then I could have. Thanks goes to you, Neill and thanks for all your efforts here at APfP!
Neill,
Don't think I could say Thank You for your passion & service to our beloved pipe smoking community any better than what our dear friend, Richard, has stated.
It has been a lot of fun & an honor to haul your posterior around Northwest Arkansas to meet new friends & I'm looking forward to future road trips together to share a pipe with new & old friends.
May you & your lovely wife, Wendy, have a joyous Holiday season!
Jeff