Today begins the memory-intense part of the year...wishing you all a peaceful, enjoyable day!
What am I thankful for? For one thing....DU, and all of you here - the past year reinforced how important it is to find a place where we can share our collective disbelief and outrage at watching things happen we likely never thought possible. So, as part of my sanity therapy (I know, that is debatable!), thanks to you all.
Without even getting into the "meanings" behind all of these hallmarkey moments today and lying just ahead, this is the onset of an increasingly complicated time. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's - for my wife and I, our anniversary (soon to hit #37), both our birthdays - they arrive complete with a lifetime of mental pictures and memories - and as we get older, most of the faces in those pictures are now truly only memories. Our small families are now tiny - just she and I, and my brother - all other sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents - gone. And it all happened so fast.
Today, for me, is a mixture of a quaint little tradition we held at the church I attended as a small child - all of the kids dressed up like pilgrims, and we did a re-enactment of something that of course never really happened like "they" said it did, marching outside to the pulse of a snare drum - a gaggle of unruly pilgrims and indians. A few years, I got to play John Alden or Miles Standish and had a speaking part that I bumbled through. Cameras flashed. We even made it to the evening local news a few times!
Later, it meant that same church holding a big free community dinner for all of those who were alone, or couldn't afford dinner - it meant rising at 5 AM, working with many church families, cooking and sharing a feast.
Later still, it meant a high school football game. Then deciding whose house to have Thanksgiving at - my wife's parents, or mine (always with an argument and hurt feelings by those not chosen) - ah, families. Then it was us with our small kids hosting the dinner - then we decided to spend it at the outer banks and do our Thanksgiving there.....and now, the kids living distant, the relatives gone, it is quieter and simpler and a bit sadder. We fight with our memories and emotions even as we take comfort in each other and our 38 year friendship.
It only gets harder as the next set of mental pictures are the many Christmases - we won't go there.
What will the memories of today be? We are hoping trump doesn't creep into the day, and into dinner (though our hosts are shall we say not on the side my wife and I are on - the no politics at the table rule better hold)!.
Just rambling here as it is nearing time to head out for the big event - dog walk first. (our 14 year old chocolate can still do a half mile). It is mid 30s, crisp, the leaves are still golden and red and orange. Our moods go up and down like yoyos.
Thanks to all here for the constant political therapy sessions and sanity checks....and have a happy day. I hope all of you successfully grapple with your own memories - the good, the bad, the new, and losses. No way to avoid any of it, it seems.
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