Hello dear friends and family!
The wind continues to blow and the rain keeps coming right on down on this day after Thanksgiving. Right now the temperature stands at 34 degrees, precariously close to that point of freezing. It's been dreary all day long but in the "land of the former drought", we have learned to be grateful for moisture of any kind on any given day of the week. All of this good rain will continue to make the reservoirs and rivers run full again.
We give thanks to God for that.
Today has been a good day to clean up after our Thanksgiving Day feast of yesterday. It was the beginning of a new tradition for Mike and I as we stayed home for the first time in our nearly 3 years together. We were so thankful that my sister and brother-in-law only live a little more than an hour away from us now. They were able to come to dinner here with us and for that I give thanks. For over 30 years, my sister and I have lived far enough apart from one another that we only got to see each other a couple of times a year. Not any longer!
We also were blessed to have two young airmen from Shepherd Air Force base join us for the day as well. Mike had learned on the news that families were needed to take in airmen who could not go home for the holidays. When Mike heard about it, he asked me if we could participate in it this year. It took me no time at all to tell him that absolutely we should. I come from a family where my parents took in just about everybody and their brother who needed a place for special times like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I grew up like that.
Yesterday at our table there were 6 people and that was a nice feeling. The two young men from the nearby base were such wonderful people. They visited with us as if we had known them all of our lives. Zach is a 19-year old from a farming community in Ohio and Sal is a 22-year old from the very south of Texas and soon to be married. They are working hard to make a career in the military and their patriotism and sense of "country" was most evident. The football game was on and as they were watching it, they stood for the national anthem that was being played on the TV. Their manners were impeccable and thank goodness they came with empty bellies because we had enough food to feed about 100 airmen and then some. Taking them in for our meal was the most lovely and rewarding experience that I've had in a long time.
Before they left to return to the base, we stopped a moment for a photo with them and the promise to try and keep in touch with one another.
There were a lot of things to remember about yesterday. We thought of our mom who used to make the most gigantic meal ever for Thanksgiving and then worry if she had enough prepared or if there was someone around who didn't have a place to go and eat. I made her pistachio pudding salad, the one that she always made for us to enjoy. The green bean casserole was made in the nearly 75-year old baking pan that used to be my Grandmother Brown's. It's old and showing its age but it still can cook the most delicious things. We placed Aunt Margaret's lace tablecloth upon the kitchen table and I'm sure that she would have been happy that it was finally gracing the noontime table. I promised her that I would use it and so after taking off the tag from so many years ago now, it fit Mike's 100-year old table just fine. It was nice to think that those 3 women who have had a profound influence upon my life might have been looking down from Heaven above and smiling at our day.
We don't do "Black Friday" and so there was no need to rush around this morning looking for the greatest of bargains. Mike's job at the local hardware store kept him busy today and as for me, well I've just kind of been taking it easy. I have never taken a nap in the morning before but today I did. Seemed strange to crawl back into a warm bed at 10:00 and set the alarm to wake me up at noontime. I believe I can say that I enjoyed every moment of it.
The older I have gotten, the more I realize something about this last Thursday of the month of November every year. We speak of Thanksgiving with gratitude in our hearts. We call it our month of "thankfulness" and it is right so to do. Yet today on this day "after", I am ever reminded that every day that you can open your eyes in the morning and start a new day should be called "Thanksgiving Day".
I would do well to remember.
We both were failures at that thing called "retirement".
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