Finding Thanks

It is getting so late in the year we can almost stretch out our arms and pull the next year up to us close and tight. What a year this one has been, huh? After all, I never thought I would ever walk into a bank with a mask on but I did several times this year. It’s been one for the books, and one, many of us would just as soon forget. Still, it’s Thanksgiving, and the year ain’t over yet.

It seems as if the year could be encapsulated in a scene from an old Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. You probably have seen it but I will cut to the chase, turkeys, when tossed out of a helicopter, cannot fly. Here, see for yourselves.

I don’t know but 2020 seems like we all were employees of WKRP. I suppose that is better than being one of the turkeys.

While we near the end of the year, I hope you take some time to laugh. It is good medicine. If you can, spend some time with family. Bonus points if you can share a meal with them. Put down your phone. Facebook can wait. Twitter is a cesspool. Don’t be distracted by the façade social media projects. Take some time to be quiet and just reflect. Breathe in, exhale.

I hope when you take some time that you find people and things for which you are thankful. They are there if you choose to look. By the way, being thankful is something you determine each day. If you cannot find anything to be grateful for, then do something good for someone else, so they can be grateful for you.

Happy Thanksgiving. God bless us all.

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. ~1 Chronicles 29:13

Road Trip: College Visits

Writing about various road trips I have experienced through the years has been an interesting journey. Several of these trips came to memory easily. Sometimes though the memory of one or two of them creeps in that had nearly slipped away.

As I get older, I find myself growing more nostalgic about days gone by. Those days weren’t probably as good as memory revisits them now. Still, they sure seemed good.

While some of those memories remain vivid as if they happened just yesterday, some things about such memories aren’t quite as close by to recall. After all if something happened when I was seventeen years old, it is hard for my now much more older body to recall what things were like then.

In hindsight, high school days went by very fast. It seemed as if they were over about as quickly as they started. When they ended, some of us weren’t sure what to do next.

What I do recall is how when we were seniors, we were granted three days so we could visit colleges. Looking back, I did not take these days seriously. I mean, you tell me how you plan to give me three days I do not have to attend classes and all you need is written confirmation I went on a campus tour. Sign me up.

Memory is hazy now on recalling who went on these trips. I have a good idea who was on at least two of the trips. Our friendship coupled with the time from high school into adulthood and parenthood for all of us makes me not even try to name any of them here. The statute of limitations may not be up for some of them, too. You just do that for longtime friends.

One trip was to a technical school about 45 minutes away. I don’t recall much about the visit other than it was rather short. We looked at a few things then it was over. The second trip was to a nice private college a few hours away. This one took a bit longer. The campus personnel may have looked us over and decided we weren’t future students but if they did we still saw their dog-and-pony show. I remember being bowled over at the beauty of the campus. I even looked over the printed material they gave us several times after the trip. The final trip was to a large state university over two hours away. It seemed like a great town but all of us knew none of us would be going to school here either. We were back on the road soon enough.

I do not remember a lot of specifics about the actual ride to these places. We made it there then back safely. At this point, that is what matters. The memories I have of those trips is just being with my friends. I remember us joking with each other. I remember laughing with them. Good times. Better friends.

I am not sure I would go back to being seventeen years old again. Looking back I see how green I was then. I understand how unprepared in many ways I was for the years ahead. I do know the teenage years can be awkward and tough as you go through them. It might be nice to be the weight I was then. It might be good to feel younger. It might even be nice to experience that feeling of knowing how the future was still wide open then. I know it would be good to have one more ride with those friends. It just ended too soon. It always does.

Playlist for Road Trip: College Visits
The Rolling Stones "Start Me Up"
Earth, Wind & Fire "Let's Groove"
Frankie & The Knockouts "Sweetheart"
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band "Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight"
Pat Benetar "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
Boz Scaggs "Miss Sun"
The Who "You Better You Bet"
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Stevie Nicks "Insider"
Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes"
Journey "Who's Crying Now?"
Steve Winwood "While You See A Chance"
George Harrison "All Those Years Ago"

Best Part

This morning I brushed my daughter’s hair. It’s blonde and falls below her shoulders. Today, it was a little tangled. The entire time I brushed her hair, she talked or she sang. My wife walked into the room, our eyes met then we talked about the hours and days ahead as the world around us started to wake.

On the way to work, between the chaos of bumper-to-bumper traffic, I looked to the eastern sky. There, the sun struggled to break free from the clouds leaving behind an interesting mix of pink, blue and gray. It was a masterpiece of the tallest order, even if it were through an automobile windshield.

Each day the world expects and demands a lot. It devours time, energy, strength. It always comes back for more. Always. It is never satisfied.

I can spend my time fretting over politics. I can stand up and fight the power of whatever evil a politician says needs fighting. I can divide and conquer and cancel then pat myself on the back with no mercy unaware I might need forgiveness one day. I can absorb myself in this season’s must see television show or movie. I can wrap myself in my work or pursuing more knowledge. I can lose myself in art or travel or status. I can read and surmise and cipher and ponder and hem and haw a way into making myself feel comfortable with who I know, what I know and how much I know.

At the end of the day though...

The three of us sat in our living room. We talked about the sunrise we all three had seen earlier in the day. Then, out of the corner of my eye I noticed something thin and long resting on my shirt sleeve. I zeroed in on it then grabbed at it with my fingers. I caught it, a golden hair. I raised it into the air, looked at my wife and daughter then without words, we laughed together.

That’s life. And, it’s the best part.