“Thanksgiving dinner takes 18 hours to prepare. It is consumed in 12 minutes. Halftime takes 12 minutes. This is not a coincidence.” – Erma Bombeck
I spent a lot of time this past summer reading. Because of the considerable amount of rain, my gardening took a back seat. I happened to read and reread some of Andy Rooney’s books. Many of you may remember Andy from a segment at the end of “60 Minutes” every week. I always loved his writing and his perspective on everyday issues. I remember one about Thanksgiving. He said that, in his opinion, there ought to be a law against any mention of Christmas before December. He said Thanksgiving should be about family, togetherness, watching football and focusing on the things in our lives we should be grateful for.
I remember Thanksgiving as a child, waking to the smell of the turkey in the oven as early as 7 a.m. We always ate earlier than most, as the cows had to be milked at 4:30. There were Thanksgivings when the snow was so deep that we kids played outside until we were exhausted. I think back with gratitude for the warm memories I have of those holidays. Simple as they were, they were special.
If someone told me back then that I would someday live in Maine, I would have thought they had reached for the dinner wine a bit too often. Yet here we are in the autumn of our lives. As fall sets in and October gives way to November, my mind once again turns to Thanksgiving and the things in my life that I am grateful for. As with most, the things I am most thankful for are my family, friends and health.