Thanksgiving Morning

The sound of gunfire woke me at sunrise on this Thanksgiving morning.

I'm at the cabin in the north woods, where Thanksgiving coincides with deer hunting season.  The noise of gun fire in the woods at sunrise sounded like a neighboring county launched a land invasion of our county.  This is an annual event, and we are accustomed to it.

I decided against taking the usual morning hike down the lane, even though I have the full array of head-to-toe high viz outerwear.  Most of the hunters will be cleared out of the woods by noon, so I'll go out then, when it will be safer.

Coffee.  I've had a cup of coffee first thing in the morning most mornings since when I was sixteen and pterodactyls still dotted the skies.  Coffee shops like Starbucks weren't a thing back then.  A coffee shop was another name for a diner, usually a smaller diner, where a cup of coffee and a slice of home made pie could be enjoyed while you sat at the counter and read the newspaper.  Or coffee and a cruller, if you preferred.

My favorite coffee shop is a place you haven't heard of, but you probably visit quite often,  My favorite coffee shop is Homebucks.  You've probably been there, they have locations everywhere.

I can show up at Homebucks in my bathrobe and nobody complains. I get to choose the music and the television station, and I get as many refills as I want.  I always get the comfy chair near the window. There is never a table of amp'd up sales reps behind me planning their day. And the cookies and scones are always fresh.

Nobody lines up in front of me wasting time trying to figure out which nine ingredients he or she wants in his or her coffee.  I order the usual: coffee with half-and-half in the big cup I bought in New Orleans a few years ago, at Cafe du Monde.  The server (usually me) gets it right every time.

There is no drive-through, but there is a drive-in that allows overnight covered parking, and they gave me the door opener. The newspaper is never taken apart and scattered over several tables. The magazine selection is always magazines I find interesting. No twenty-two year old server or barrista ever patronizingly refers to me as "young man", a thing I have grown to detest. I am not asked whether I qualify for a senior discount. I don't have to leave a tip, ever, and sometimes I get lucky with the waitress.

Best of all, if the coffee doesn't wake me up, they let me take a nap.

I made coffee, poured a cup, lit a fire in the fireplace, put on some Emmylou Harris, and started to think about Thanksgiving.  There is so much to be thankful for that I don't know where to begin, so I'll begin at the beginning.  I'm thankful that Captain Christopher Jones led 102 Puritans and Pilgrims and crew to sail the Atlantic in search of a land where they could have religious freedom, away from the constraints placed on the English by the monarchy and the Church of England.  I'm thankful that half of the immigrants survived the first winter, and decided to remain here and not return to England.

I'm thankful that for the next 150 years the colonies grew and thrived, all the while debating the nature of government and the governed, and settling finally on the notions of democracy, a representative republic, freedom from government oppression, and on human rights that were given by God, and not by some ruler, with liberty and justice for all.

I'm thankful for everyone who came after, the ones who endured hardships beyond our knowing, the ancestors on whose shoulders we stand.  I'm thankful for the warriors, the fighters who kept this republic intact through war and strife.  I'm thankful for laws made on the Biblical ideas of right and wrong, even though that nearly destroyed the republic when the scourge of slavery had to be ended.

I'm thankful to live in a civilized and safe society, among good people like you.  I'm thankful for my family, I'm thankful that I've lived longer than I ever imagined I would and have seen more than I ever imagined I'd see.

But mostly I'm thankful for God's mercy, forgiveness, and grace.  For without that, there is nothing, and with that there is everything.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving to each of you.  You brighten my days and bring happiness. And I hope I have done the same for you in some small measure.

Regards,

Haz

ADDED:  This year I'm making a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner.  So far, so good.