We’re nearing the end of a terrific Thanksgiving Day. It started out divinely because I got to sleep in this morning for the first time all week. (I signed on at the radio station Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings, which meant leaping out of bed at about 4:40 am. Well, maybe I didn’t manage to leap.) And we basically had one single entry on the day’s calendar- – – a feast at Polly and Mark’s that was delicious in every way.
Actually the most delicious thing about the day was just being together and enjoying each other’s company- and especially enjoying Lorelai. This may sound a little weird, but being with her today reminded me of something in the book “Forever Young” by William Sylvester Noonan. He was one of the closest friends of JFK Jr. and the book is a memoir of their friendship right up to the day he was killed. (Kennedy was actually on his way to Noonan’s home to celebrate his friend’s wedding anniversary when the plane went down.) Anyway, the book is especially interesting for Noonan’s perceptive comments about Jackie Kennedy- and one of the first things he says about her is “Nothing was ordinary around Jackie- not even the ordinary.”
In some ways Lorelai is like that; she delights in so many things that might very well slip past the rest of us and being around her just sort of lights up everything in the room. You should have seen her today as she enjoyed a little gift we brought her – a neat little tent that sets itself up with a twist of the frame – but she got excited about everything else that the day had to offer, including the hot dog that was her main course. 🙂 And although children can be especially good at that kind of enjoyment – especially as happy a child as Lorelai – I think it’s very possible for people of any age to live life like that. I think my mom lived like that and I hope that I have inherited some of that trait – of enjoying the goodness of life right down to the marrow of your bones. Certainly I’ve known a few people in my life who are the opposite- Pastor Jeff sometimes talks about certain people who, in his words, “suck the energy right out of a room.” To them everything is drab- or worse- and they seem to lack the eyes to see the wonder of what is around them. Sometimes it might be because they bear burdens we know nothing about, so I should resist the urge to be too judgmental about it- but I can’t help but think of some of the people in my life who have suffered terribly in one way or another but who if anything have gained appreciation for life’s blessings, God’s “tender mercies,” and bring a little extra light into whatever room they’re in rather than subtracting it.
23 years ago, while I was serving as the substitute intern at Luther Valley Church, I preached a sermon on Thanksgiving Eve in which I talked about an amazing woman in the congregation named Sylvia Thoreson- who was suffering in the final stages of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. In visiting her, I came to realize something which became the centerpiece of my sermon. . . that people who met her might be inclined to say that Sylvia, because of all she had lost to ALS, had come to deeply appreciate the little things in life. No, I said that night in the pulpit, Sylvia had come to appreciate the GREAT things in life- the things that really matter most. 23 years later, someone else in my life named Thoreson is suffering from the same disease – but seeing life through the same sort of wise and appreciative eyes. And my friend Walter, with whom I had supper on Monday, continues to amaze and inspire me with his courage in the face of MS. If you can, you need to read his splendid “Parson to Person” essay in today’s (11/22) Racine Journal Times – in which Walter eloquently thanks all caregivers by thanking his wife Lynn for all she does for him every single day. “Here is the amazing thing about caregiving, “ he writes at one point. “It is love for the long haul. Lynn cares for me every single day: happy, peaceful days and sad, angry or miserable days. . . “
Is it weird to talk about something like ALS or MS on Thanksgiving Day? Not really, when one thinks about what we think of as the first Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621. The backdrop to that celebration was terrible suffering which claimed the lives of those Pilgrims both on the voyage over and during that first savage winter. Those who survived felt so tremendously blessed – and especially appreciative of the essential gift of friendship, amongst themselves and with the Native Americans who helped them survive.
Holy cow, where did all this heavy philosophy come from? From my beautiful niece, Lorelai, I guess, and her smile and laughter on this beautiful Thanksgiving Day.
pictured: these little Thanksgiving bears have been part of our Thanksgiving celebrations since before we got married! It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without them!