Find Religion

I am grateful for the end of this year. Next year brings the hopes of major changes. Not only politically but socially, economically, environmentally and personally. What changes would you like to see in your day to day life? More love? More security? You can have these things. In this uncertain world it is up to us to prepare ourselves and our lives for the uncertain future.

Three things I know for sure in this uncertain world-

Love is real

Hope is eternal

Nothing stands in the way but self

So move yourself out of your own way and see the future year coming with real value, sacredness; love for self. Respect for self. When you have accomplished that, it is only then that you are able to share yourself as you were created to the world and be part of the greater good. If you have self loathing and lack of self respect then you have no love or respect. You can be admired by millions and loved greatly but if you have no love for your self then you are not being the whole, true person you are meant to be in this creation. What is stopping you from loving yourself? If you can find you way to forgiveness, starting with yourself is a good plan to begin this process. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves so we can be at peace with our past so we can have a future. Find peace with the past as much as you are able, so you can find the love & hope and help me transform next year in to something we can be proud to be a part of a grateful to pass on to our children.

And to all a good night! Wheew! Are you all as glad it’s over as I am? I love going to see everyone and making special memories. I can do without the added stresses and tensions that can come with the season like an unwanted virus. This time of year often feels like a huge emotional wave that comes overtakes me with sentimental feelings of nostalgia of Christmas magic from when I was a kid. Knowing now what my mother went thru to make the holidays special even as she worked full time really fills me with so much love and appreciation for her care and thoughtfulness. What care she took to pick out gifts and wrap them beautifully for us. She’d make us little letters that ‘Santa’ would leave for us thanking us for our delicious cookies. She had everything dialed in from the onion dip to the homemade pumpkin pie. She did everything with what appeared to be such ease. Every Christmas is infused with her recipes, her love, our traditions and a great need to make everything special, wonderful and delightful for us kids.

I’m the opposite of my mother’s grace. I can make onion dip and pumpkin pie. But not without the fire alarm going off or the phone ringing or something to pull me away from my task. My mom always seemed so focused and methodical in her work. She wasn’t often distracted and was able to go to task without being pulled left & right by this, that & the other. Me, on the other hand; my life seems to delight in running me around and wringing me out. Flipping me around like it’s own little red rag waving in a tornado force wind. Life doesn’t twidder about me like the bluebirds of happiness. It batters me with it’s forces of energy. I feel like a tilting planet all it’s own sometimes with my own gravitational force. I long for that seeming paradise of calm, cool & collected that my mom can achieve. I wish she’d share the recipe for that! That is what I am craving right now!

I hope the season brought you joys from Christmas past, blessing on Christmas now and peace for the coming new year’s future. It’s not time to drop the fun of giving though. I have a couple things I received that I can’t use or return so I will donate them or pass them to someone who may be able to use and appreciate them. I also have a big pot of soup to make from the turkey carcass we brought home from a holiday gathering. I will make soup up and freeze it in quarts to give away. It’s always nice to have homemade soup. I also have some more fudge wrapped up that needs to get out of here before I eat anymore of it! I think the mailman has his name on some!

Every baby is Jesus’ perfection trying to be seen and acknowledged and reborn again and again. We can see it if we have the eyes, heart & hormones of a mother, or a vivid enough imagination that could imagine such as so. The love of a mother and the power a mother feels as she nourishes & sustains life, gives birth and continues to sustain that life with milk made from her own body, is the key, integral relationship in any human life. This is an act  so full of dynamism that any peace loving culture should rely on breastfeeding as a great beginning to creating happy, well-adjusted people thru out the world as a whole today. Lack of bonding as we can sometimes see in bottle fed babies, who miss out on the breast and the close mother/child bond, creates a population that is more enamored by the achieving of material gains then relating on a heart & soul human level with other human beings.  As we can see in the world today these shifted values have altered the path the world is on to a degree that has bred and nurtured people who are hell bent on greed, war, destruction and other traits that come from the damaged, improperly nurtured psyche.

Mary didn’t milk any of the barn animals for milk for baby Jesus. She nourished Him with milk from her own body. This act is a woman’s sacred art and has shaped futures of children from the beginning of time. Making milk for an infant can be a joy and a pleasure. It is certainly a lot of work for the body. Milk holds everything, every nutrient and satisfaction for a child; mind, body & soul. The act of breastfeeding instills innately the preciousness and value and worthiness of taking the best care, time & energy with your child. The care that come thru breastfeeding plays a role in the formation of every relationship thereafter. Ecological breastfeeding-when the breast is given on demand, without the use of bottles or pacifiers, can also suppress fertility, as the body adjusts so beautifully to accommodate the mother’s & child’s needs.

Any act such as breastfeeding which requires such devotion & sacrifice on a person’s part automatically makes the act a sacred one. Any sacred act infuses the preciousness and worth that we as a society lack in today. We wouldn’t have 1/2 the wars & murder or even depression, suicide or basic dissatisfaction with life if we had just given our children their birthright; our milk. Or more accurately-their milk. And she gives until it hurts. As they need. To establish their selves as such to value all life around us. This is one of the fatal flaws we make as humanity in not being absolutely blessed and supportive of the breastfeeding mother. It is a wound in the psyche that can not be healed or filled with any other outside resources and have the same impact it has when given from the source.

Breastfeeding stimulates important nurturing hormones called prolactin & oxytocin which induce feelings of contentment & satisfaction in not only the mother & child but also in anyone who even witnesses the act of breastfeeding! These are the same hormones that are produced when an orgasm is achieved.

We were created for ecstasy & bliss! Our whole system supports this but cultural & societal norms have altered this natural path & disrupted the core of the essence of our being.

Breastfeeding also reduces the likelihood of a woman getting breast cancer.

Support your hardworking mothers!

Have you been feeling the love? Have you set a warm ember of hope thru a memory or event you enjoy or have been looking forward to in your heart? I hope so! I want to whole-heartily encourage you to find your genuine smile. If you can’t be a friend to someone-then be your own best friend. If someone else can’t then you have to. Take yourself out somewhere special. Be kind. Use kind words. Smile with not only your mouth but your eyes as well. Listen to that small inner voice of wisdom and hear it and heed it.  Are you impelled to take an offramp not on your normal route? Don’t ask why or erase it away! Listen to that little voice of inner wisdom. There are a myriad of reasons why and the one reason may not be readily apparent. The why may be irrelevant, it’s the action of listening and acting on that impulse that creates repertoire of trust within yourself that you can build upon.

Do you want more joy in your life? It is there, within you, just waiting to be discovered and tapped. What do you want to create next year? It’s a brand new year and time for us to contemplate the last year and plan for the next. What did we do well? What can we improve upon? Did we right any wrongs or just muddle along? We can only get out of our life what we put into it. Give it your all!

In this season of the winter solstice, let us be merry, kind and generous in heart & spirit. Let us share when and where we can. Let us be gentle and kind to each other. Let us give with joy and celebration.

I made 6 pounds of fudge that I have passed out to the friendly ladies at the post office, the librarian and the local thrift store. I also brought cookies to the guy that works at Kinkos. You should have seen his face when he realized I brought them just for him. In his gratitude he was taken in a rush and flood of emotion. His personal turmoil burst forth the painful truth of his marriage gone bad that has left him  lonely, bereft and depressed. My little treats haven’t solved any great problems that the worlds holds for us to solve but it has brought us closer as neighbors sharing this spaceship planet earth all of us here together. I felt the love. It was even better than the fudge! And the fudge was really, really good!

Since we can’t seem to give peace a chance, let’s try love for a change. Put some love in your hearts! The holidays aren’t about racing around trying to find something cheap to buy someone you love. Really, it’s not. Yet we find ourselves and see so many doing so. Put some love in your heart! Try love for a change. If you can’t get there on your own, put some lovely music on. Something that evokes the spirit of tenderness and love. Do whatever you have to to try love for a change. Be inspired! Think back, oh sweet memory if nothing holds love for you now. Where is the love? Try love for a change. It starts in the heart. It starts by shutting off the brain to the barrage of intellectualized reasons why we move in haste and often without a genuine smile. Try love for a change. Find your smile. When you have done that, you know you have love in your heart. Feed the flame of love. Stoke the stove heartily with fuel so the embers can heat thru any iciness and melt down the walls that keep us from really connecting. Slow down. Listen to some great music that you love. If it is holiday music, even all the more inspiring! Find your smile. Share it willingly. You never knows who needs that smile the most. Probably the person you want to smile at the least. Find the joy in your heart that isn’t based on expectations of anything but delight. Haste is a form of violence. If we can all slow down, find out inner love song, put on a genuine smile, I know that tomorrow will be a better day. Join me, won’t you? <[;>)

Was the silence on my blog golden or deafening? To me, it was deafening. My ever so helpful spouse took it upon himself to erase the hard drive from my brand new computer without backing up the system! Thanks, Honey! You did such a great job screwing up all my well laid plans. Santa saw that, you know! So did Jesus! He’s telling God/dess for me. You will be accountable. BWHAHAHAAAA….
As you can see, I am back on tonight! I will be making up for lost time. I have been busy in the real world doing detestable duties like dishes, laundry and chicken chores. The rain has been falling. Mud flows, roof’s leak, cancer grows and bullets scream thru sinew and flesh. And life continues on and the sun still shines his face,  somewhere, thru it all.

Jam thumbprint cookies are cooling in the kitchen. I made mom’s old butterscotch yule log recipe tonight to package and give as gifts.  I have one last box to assemble and send out to a sister of a friend.  I didn’t ‘do’ cards this year. I didn’t have a picture of the kids in enclose. I got all caught up in the frantic psychic energy of the season. Like an undertow of emotion, I have been swept off my feet. I’m trying to swim parallel with land but the watery emotions want to submerge me into it’s icy, mythical & revealing depths. I take a deep breathe and hold until it passes. I’m still holding. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. I tell myself…

During this season of giving I can’t help but feel the pain of the millions of people who all they want are things money cannot buy. Like peace and hope. Or love and joy. What is the value of these things? What does hope look like? What does peace look like? Hope, to me, looks like the eyelashes of a tiny baby that rests on a silky cheek. Peace looks like the wind that raises the birds in the sky; elusive & fleeting. Love looks like a smile, open and friendly, ready to be generous and maybe even share a laugh. Joy looks like the fertile earth that has been dug up by the leaping paws of a happy dog, that has unearthed the earth itself with galloping strides of joyful bursting forth in energetic delight.

What do your wishes and hopes look like? Are they asking you to notice them, like the blossom of a flower, who tries so hard to get noticed, touched, smelled and appreciated? Breathe life into your dreams so they can come to fruition. Keep them alive anyway you can. Write and plan your dreams. Now is the time to access and reassess everything you have in your life . Conscientious people live the life that they want. Instead of life having you; you have the life you want. By accessing your life, your choices for the coming new year you can get rid of what no longer serves you, be it a bad habit or stressful unfulfiling work. Try to use your eyes that can see things like hope in the eyelashes of a child. This will create a balance of creative and pragmatic energies that will serve you well for the coming new year ahead. I wish you many blessings of all the good things in life that hold the true meaning of the season. All the things that money cannot buy have the most value. May you be showered with all the good things in life! And don’t forget, the best things in life aren’t things.

As soon as I get embroiled in all the great things the season has to bring, reality kicks in and so does the fear and loathing. A dear friend of ours has found lumps in his throat and neck and we are very concerned for his well being. Of course the first thing that pops into mind is cancer. It’s just like an automatic reaction. When I was a kid the worst thing in the world was cancer. This was before we seen what aids and other incurable disease could do.

So the season is now fraught with fear of disease, tests, scans and needles and waiting for results.  The worst part is the waiting. Time goes into a bubble warp and twists and turns and drags it’s feet when you are in waiting. Time has no friend like the good news we hope to hear from this uncertain place in time. One of the worst parts is that he doesn’t have insurance and has put this off for months and months now. That precious time can make the difference between stage III or IV cancer and have a huge impact of his rate of cure. I am ashamed of a country as rich and powerful as ours who has nothing better to give it’s own people than a war hell bent and built on lies, and lack of the most basic care that every human needs and should be entitled to as our birthright as proper medical care. What is this country coming to? We are endangering human life as we natter on about health care solutions. The solution lay in giving. Give until it hurts. Then maybe the people who are really hurting can get some care and relief.

Hold on to your loved ones tightly! Nothing is guaranteed. We can be grateful we get to see the sunrise of a new day. What will we do with this new day? My hope for you is to be able to linger in the beauty of all that surrounds you be it people or nature that you love. Indulge your senses. The time to live is now! Nothing is certain and anything can happen. It feels like flying by the seat of your pants. It can make you uncomfortable, but the ride is fun and the view is great. Enjoy the view in your life today. If there is no focus on illness or disease or despair, then rejoice for your good fortune.

Do you know what that means? It means give up something of value to yourself so you can bring joy & humanity to others who may be without. Give something that is your own; give what you want. Give something that is comforting and warm. A hat, scarf or mittens. Slippers or homemade soup and bread. A warm smile, nod, handshake or hug. Give something you love and would want for yourself. Cloak a part of your world with kindness and warmth. Give something you could keep yourself but out of the goodness of your heart you want to share that which you already strive for and love. Nourish someone. Give them sustenance for life. Heart & soul. This is why we are here. To do so eases wrongs and sets the world right. To do so is a sign of spiritual & emotional maturity. To delay one’s own gratification for the needs and fulfillment of another is one of the highest forms of intellectualized spiritual truth that represents a high level of emotional maturity. This maturity serves as a lifeline of grace & peace to an all too often gray & hardscrabble world. Behaving as such sends a very important message into your life and into the world around us. A message that lingers and sings words of Hope, Joy, Charity, Faith & Love. In today’s world-this is revolutionary! Viva La Revolution! No pain, no gain! Get giving! It hurts so good!

Santa’s reindeer most probably evolved from Herne, the Celtic Horned God. Eight reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh, representative of the eight solar sabbats. In British lore, the stag is one of the five oldest and wisest animals in the world, embodying dignity, power and integrity. From their late Autumn dramatic rutting displays, stags represented strength, sexuality and fertility. As evidenced by multiple prehistoric excavations of stag antler ritual costumes, the wearing of stag antlers in folk dance recreated the sacred male shaman figure called Lord of the Wild Hunt, Cernunnos, or Herne the Hunter, among others–he who travels between worlds, escorting animal spirits to the afterlife and sparking wisdom and fertility in this world. Likewise, the stag’s branching antlers echo the growth of vegetation. In America, the stag represents male ideals: the ability to “walk one’s talk,” and powerfully, peacefully blend stewardship and care of the tribe with sexual and spiritual integrity.
In Northern European myth, the Mother Goddess lives in a cave, gives birth to the sun child, and can shape shift into a white hind, or doe. Therefore, the white hind was magical, to be protected and never hunted. In myth, graceful running women of the forest–who were actually magical white hinds–brought instant old age or death to hunters who chased them.
To the Celts, all deer were especially symbolic of nurturing, gentle and loving femaleness. White deer hide was used to make tribal women’s clothing. White deer called “faery cattle” were commonly believed to offer milk to fairies. In Britain amongst the Druids, some men experienced life-transforming epiphanies from spiritual visions or visitations by white hinds, balancing and healing their inner feminine energy. In Europe white hinds truly exist, and are many shades of warm white cream-colors, with pale lashes–otherworldly in their peaceful and modest behavior. To many Native American tribes, deer are models of the graceful and patient mother who exhibits unconditional love and healthy, integrated female energy.

The Wheel of the Year is often symbolized by the wreath. Its circle has no beginning and no end, illustrating that everything in its time comes back to its point of origin and travels onward, over and over again. Scandinavians began the tradition of hanging the wreath at Yule, the beginning of their new year, to commemorate new beginnings in the cycle of life. Today in rural Germany, a giant wreath, known as St. Catherine’s Wheel, is a holdover from another pagan custom which involved sympathetic magick to lure the sun’s warmth back to the earth. A giant four-spoked wheel with an effigy of a person bound to it, is lighted on fire and rolled down a hill. The effigy probably hearkens back to a time when human sacrifices were made in plea to the sun. In some traditions, Yule was a more important holiday for honoring the Sun God than Midsummer. In Winter, Mother Earth was cold and barren without the fertilizing power of Father Sun

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The Oak King

The Wiccan God is the Lord of the Greenwood, consort to the Lady of the Greenwood. Known also as Cernunnos, the Green Man, Herne the Hunter, and Lord of the Wild Hunt, he is a god of fertility, growth, death, and rebirth.
Two God-themes figure predominantly in Wiccan Sabbats: the Sun-God theme and that of the Holly King and Oak King.
The Sun-God rules the seasons. At Yule, he is the new babe, the embodiment of innocence and joy. He represents the infancy of the returning light. At Imolg, his growth is celebrated, as the days are growing longer and light stronger. At Ostara, he is a green, flourishing youth whose eye is taken by the Maiden Goddess. On Beltane, he is the young man in love who takes the Goddess as his bride. Their consummated marriage is celebrated with maypoles and bonfires. At Midsummer, he consumates his marriage in a union so complete that it becomes a death. He is mourned at Lammas, and at Mabon, he sleeps in the womb of the Goddess. At Samhain, he waits in the Shining Land to be reborn.
The symbolism of the Horned God is also played out the theme of the Holly King and Oak King. The Horned God is the Holly King and the Oak King, two twin gods seen as one complete entity. Each of the twin gods rule for half of a year, fights for the favor of the Goddess, and dies. But the defeated twin is not truly dead, he merely withdraws for six months, some say to Caer Arianrhod, the Castle of the ever-turning Silver Wheel, which is also known as the Wheel of the Stars. This is the enchanted realm of the Goddess Arianrhod where the god must wait and learn before being born again. Arianrhod means “silver wheel” and the castle is the Aurora Borealis. She is the goddess of the astral skies and there she rules as goddess of reincarnation.
The golden Oak King, who is the light twin, rules from midwinter to midsummer. The darksome Holly King rules the dark half of the year from Midsummer to Midwinter.

Holly King

From the Celtic tradition, we get a pair of ancient pagan images who fight for supremacy at Yule. The Holly King and the Oak King are probably constructs of the Druids to whom these two trees were highly sacred. The Oak King kills the Holly King at Yule. The Oak King then reigns until Midsummer when the two battle again, this time with the Holly King as the victor. The Holly King, who has evolved into the present day Santa Claus, wears red, dons a sprig of holly in his hat, and drives a team of eight, (total number of solar sabbats) deer, an animal sacred to the Celtic Gods. Holly and mistletoe are traditional to the season through commemoration of the battle. The holly was hung in honor of the Holly King; the mistletoe in honor of the Oak King.
The Oak King and Holly King are mortal enemies at Midsummer and Yule, but they are two sides of a whole, and neither could exist without the other.

Today was another day infused with gratitude, serenity and goodwill. I drove around with my 4 year old daughter and the dog, spreading smiles and good vibes everywhere we went. The day began with my girl finding some jingle bells. As we drove down the road she jingled those bells right in time with the fantastic Latin music that the local radio station played. I rocked on the steering wheel as the dog had her head out the window in blissed out face full of wind, glee. Even though it was cold out, we had 3 of the windows down and the heater going full blast. As we drove in the canyon that links us to the outside world an impatient driver tailed us closely making me nervous. I waited for a safe spot and pulled of and she drove by giving us a friendly wave. I was glad to anticipate her need to get there sooner than me and I was left feeling all the more gracious for moving out of her way and going on in my own merry way.

Our first stop was at our favorite thrift store, where we picked up a recorder and some more bells so we could add to the musical mayhem. I insisted my daughter played the recorder ‘pretty’ instead of the full breath bleeeet that she preferred to play. As we exited the thrift store, I anticipated another person wanting to exit and grabbed the door to help her make her way. We shared a smile and some small courtesy talk and again I was left feeling gracious and buoyant.

As we drove on we seen an older fellow holding a cardboard sign asking for any ‘help, everything helps’. So I pulled a couple dollars and a coupon for a free taco out of my wallet to give him. He was so happy and said, “God Bless you”, over and over. I told him no problem, happy to help, sorry I didn’t have more to give him. He petted our sweet dog who lapped at his face and we left him feeling better than we found him. We drove on.

I was amazed at how receptive everyone was to us. We had nothing really to do today. No where in particular to go. We just needed a day out of the house as cabin fever settles in as the weather turns colder and we spend less & less time outside. We were happy to let the guy with only one item go in front of us in line, and to move aside for the hurried mom with 2 little ones in tow. By the time I got home, I was like a helium balloon flying high as I recalled the small ways I was able to spread a little joy and sunshine on this cloudy and overcast day.

Go out and spread your good graciousness. It feels great! I was so happy to be me today. I was happy to share the earth with my comrades in arms. I am grateful to be able to bring even the smallest joy. Bringing many small joys brought me great joy! I highly recommend it!

More cowbell, anyone?

I basked in the harvest of my gratitude today and found it created a calm graciousness in me. There is a woman speak thought that says when we steal, it is essentially telling God/dess that there is not enough in the world for everyone. This misconception is fundamentally wrong. There is enough for everybody;  more than enough. The way the world works now, wealth is hoarded, undistributed and the masses are truly hungering for ‘their own’. We can see this hungering in the crime we see in our poverty ridden communities who’s destitute lives have lost hope & meaning.

When I was gravely ill with a serious disease, that Christmas, on Christmas eve, in fact, we got a phone call from someone we had never met or spoken to. She told us her & the 4 H group and the local church had gotten together and got us a bunch of groceries. Boy, did they ever! We had so much stuff that we couldn’t even put it all away in the cupboards! It was a fantastic surprise that came out of no where and made our holiday for we were in dire need of some help. This act of kindness from complete strangers has reverberated in me since that day. The world has tried for many years to take away my dreams, my hopes, my strength and in one fell swoop my faith in humanity had been restored. It’s gratifying to know that one small act such as sharing with those in need can really make the difference for someone. Or for someone’s whole family!

I can’t give grocery carts full of food. But I can make homemade breads and shape it into Challahs, braids, bagels, ropes, pretzels, cinnamon rolls and other delights to share. I want to make it a season of literally breaking bread with my neighbor. As I sit here a fresh loaf of bread is cooling on the kitchen counter. I long to break bread and share with those who may not only be hungry in body but also in spirit. Bread is fundamentally a symbol of transformation as ground grain is brought to rise. I hope the bread (words) I share here can help even one of us to rise above the lip of the pan that is keeping us from spilling over into the world and nourishing one another with our kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness and love. Be someone’s simple, nourishing bread today by transforming someone’s day with something simple, even if it is just your genuine smile. You never know how far it will go, whose life it will touch and how it continues to grow. I want us to break big bread, like the episode of I Love Lucy when the loaf of bread rises so huge that it pins Lucy to the wall from it’s immense size. I want us all to be sharing the best of ourselves that rises to the top and gives the most life affirming and sustaining aspects of our character. Take this as a challenge of sorts. Where are you going to bring the bread of peace & community this season? What form is that going to take for you personally? Let yourself be transformed just as the ground grain is transformed into body sustaining bread and kindness turns into the soul sustaining bread of life.

This Thanksgiving was one filled with closeness and joy. We all helped out and made the work light and lovely for us all. We feasted and got festive, and gave thanks that we are still all here and all together. We watched football and ate a beautiful meal, shared stories and laughter. The undercurrent of the emotions of the day were full of anticipations, hopes, expectations of times to come. Thanksgiving is like turning a new leaf. A time to hunker down, gather your nuts and seeds, draw close and chew the fat. That is what the harvest time is for. Getting prepared for rain & snow. Getting food stock piled to make it thru the season. Taking out coats, snow boots, mittens and other winter gear.  I have insulated winter curtains that I put up to hold the heat in. I put rugs under the doors to catch drafts. I bake lots of cookies and bread. It’s all a process. It use to be integral to our survival. Now the seasons can come & go and we only notice if they mess up our hair or rain on our plans. The seasons and their cycles have much to teach us. If we can find balance within the seasons then we can truly enjoy and appreciate all the nuances and subtleties that help us greet our day with anticipation. There is something comforting about wearing slippers to keep your feet warm and getting snuggly on the couch under soft blankets. It’s a time for hugs and snuggles and making your own heat. I have found I am much more acclimated to the cold if I take a hot sauna regularly and exercise to keep my blood flowing and keep my metabolism active. I am grateful for these things I can do in my life to help me adapt to the changes in the season. It’s the creature comforts that makes us relish our existence in this world, a truly define us from the animal world.

We had the luxury of being able to share food this year. I found a Vietnam veteran who lost both legs in a landmine explosion. He lives alone with his daily cigarette rations layed out next to him, ready for when he wants one. He was parked in front of the television, with t.v guide close by, so he didn’t miss any of his favorite shows. He had a small, electric heater that worked furiously to keep the chill out of the room. I had seen his wheelchair but didn’t realize he had no legs until I walked into the small trailer and closed the door behind me. We had never met before and I held a hot pan full of food hoping he wouldn’t fear me, a stranger, bringing him food. I asked him if he had thanksgiving yet. He replied, “Yes”. I asked him if he would like some more. He again said “Yes”. I handed him the pan full of hot food, turned to open the sliding glass door, turning, I said “Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you” and left. After I left I realized that I had walked into this noble man’s full existence. His daily cigs and his t.v are his life, in between the horrors of war he tries to keep at bay, like the cold. I felt sorry that someone could give so much to so many and still have so little. I hoped for the writer’s strike to end so he could watch some fresh & entertaining t.v. to bring something to his life. I secretly hoped he was rich and had everything he needed and only lived this way because he was a sensible man with humble needs.

He didn’t realize the gift he has given me in receiving the gift I brought to him. I’m already scheming something nice for him for Christmas. I know my small, humble gestures make a difference in people’s lives. I am so happy when I can give where needed and be received. I hope you find a place of need and help them receive this season of thanks.