November 23, 2011

Margaret and I just returned home from a trip to Fred and Martha's house.  We arrived home safely and in good spirits.  They'd invited us to come a couple of days early and, of course, stay for turkey and the trimmings, etc.  They live two states away . . . and I'm talking geography here, not politics or mental conditions.  By those measures, the distance is considerably greater.  Margaret and I were leery of going initially since, back in my seminary days, they'd both been really, really conservative types and we had difficulty seeing one another's point of view.

But it's been a lot of years and Fred and Martha said they were inviting others from the seminary and wanted to include us.  We figured that they'd mellowed some . . . indeed, we've changed, too, over the years.  It seemed like a gesture of friendship not unlike what characterized the first thanksgiving celebration.  So off we went.

It was a difficult trip.  The Thanksgiving traffic was already heavy and backups abounded; but we arrived at Fred and Martha's in one piece and gave thanks for that blessing.

Fred and Martha stood in the doorway of their mansion-sized new home and greeted us warmly.  They said it had been entirely too long since we'd seen each other, etc.  As we'd arrived an hour late, and the other guests were gathered around the TV watching the Republican presidential candidates debating national security issues, there was no time then for a further greeting. 

After the debates were over, Fred asked how the trip had gone.  In retrospect I wish I had not gone into so much detail.  I told him, "Well, as Thanksgiving traffic goes, Fred, it was a monumental hassle.  Directional signs along the highways under construction were either missing or in error.  Once, we stopped and asked a cop which way to go.  He told us and we followed his advice; but we wound up lost again in the labyrinthine clover leafs and Jersey barriers.

"So I looked at our AAA map and plotted a course that was on secondary roads.  Of course, to get to that route, I had to make half-a-dozen U-turns where the signs said not to.  And, since the route was longer and on slower roads, we had to speed quite a bit.  But here we are, safe and sound and only an hour late.  Thanks for asking, Fred!"

That's when Fred's face grew sullen and his skin turned a reddish purple.  Steam fairly blew from his nostrils as he said, "That means you all are here illegally!  You'll have to return home!  Right now!  Leave!"

So Margaret and I will celebrate Thanksgiving Day here at Elsewhere.  We'll probably give Advocatus a call and say hi to him.  But we are grateful for our home, for our many friends at Elsewhere, for each other . . . and for you, whoever you are, for reading this first flog entry.

Wherever you are this holiday, may your visits go well, and may your travels be safe!  And remember:  thanks are the highest form of thought; and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Snark

P.S. ~ Snark keeps quoting people without attribution!  In his last sentence, he's quoting G. K. Chesterton.  I can play the quotation game too, as Snark well knows.  Here are two of my favorites.  I hope you find them appropriate.

From the Buddha: 
 "Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."

From Meister Eckhart:
"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice."

I join Snark in wishing you and yours all the best!  ~  Margaret


                                 

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