I realize as you read this that Thanksgiving is behind, and we are barreling full steam ahead toward the Big Holiday Season. As I write it on Wednesday, however, Thanksgiving is ahead of us — such are these things we work around called deadlines.

I hope you enjoyed your holiday, and I am very much hoping to enjoy mine!

So, even though you are probably laser focused ahead on Christmas … or Hanukkah … or Kwanzaa … or the Winter Solstice, or maybe even looking further down the holiday road to Presidents Day or National Baked Alaska Day (yes, there is such a thing, Feb. 1), I would like to call you back to Thanksgiving.

Like many of you, ours was always focused on food, family and football (maybe not quite in that order for me during my younger years). However, 45 years ago that changed drastically for us, and I always am reminded of it when the holiday comes up. I was especially reminded of it this a few days ago when my cousin’s husband, Angelo, sent me a WhatsApp message to inform me that a new documentary was being screened in Italy called “The Story of An Earthquake.”

The release of the documentary coincides with the fact that this year is the 45th anniversary of a massive earthquake that struck southern Italy on Nov. 23, 1980. I found it somewhat ironic that Angelo’s note came just a few days before many Americans would be remembering another tragic date, Nov. 22, which this year marked the 62nd anniversary of President John F. Kennedy being gunned down in 1963.

Both events were apocalyptic.

You know the JFK story but perhaps not the earthquake. With his note, Angelo also sent a copy of the front page........

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