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Showing posts from November, 2020

One Turkey At A Time

A stranger rang the doorbell this afternoon. That in and of itself is not so rare.   We often have visitors on our front porch.   But this man rang the bell, and when David answered, they engaged in conversation. The man wondered if we might have a turkey for him.   You see, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and he and his wife did not have a turkey to cook. I was feeling overwhelmed with other “helping” tasks I was doing today, and I am embarrassed to admit that my first reaction to the request was, “What?   Someone is actually COMING TO THE HOUSE asking for a turkey?   Bizarre.”. But when David later re-told more of their conversation to me, I was proud . The man came to our house and asked because he knew he could .   He knew it would be a safe place, that he would not be looked down on, and that he might indeed find assistance.   He told David he remembers eating fresh peaches from our tree in summer.   He loves the signs of inclusiveness ...

Johnny Day 2020

The thing about losing someone you love is, well, gosh there are so many things… One is – if it happened yesterday, or if it happened 15 years ago, it still feels like it was too soon. If it was sudden, or slow and expected, it still feels unfair. And if it was a parent, it is heart wrenching. Yes – the traditional “plan” is that the child outlives the parent.  That’s sort of the unwritten expectation.  And yes, reversing that order would likely be much more jarring and awful.  Even so, when it happens, especially if it is your last parent and you are left (an adult) “orphan”, you feel it with every ounce of your being. Which brings me to – today is Johnny Day.  It is the 2 nd anniversary of the death of my dad, John C. Thompson.  Those who were luckily enough to know him know that he was funny (laughed at his own jokes, sometimes so hard that it was difficult for him to get through the joke), liked to trick people (his poor friend Ed, how many times ...