1. I enjoyed a Thanksgiving Day of pondering. I think more than anything I'm thankful for my family. Today pondering great times I had in 2010 with the Deke and my stepkids and my mom and my sisters and reliving the fun and laughter and conversation and good food of the Last Cousin Standing Hootenanny warmed my entire day, made cleaning the kitchen a couple of times, cooking a roast for Molly, Olivia, and me, eating dinner together a sustained pleasure.
2. But, that's not all. I pondered all the laughter and good times I've shared with friends, friends from Kellogg High School, friends from Whitworth College, from North Idaho College, and friends here in Eugene. Will I ever experience such a year again with friends? Kellogg friends congregated for food and dancing and a ton of laughs at Diane's over Presidents Day; reunion with Jane Eischen and hours over Thai food; friends everywhere I looked, everywhere I went in Kellogg during the All Class reunion; I saw Jeff again and Virginia Tinsley joined us; more friends gathered at Carol and Jake's wedding, friends I hadn't seen for years; part of the Westminster Study Group gathered for 24 hours of sweetness and light at the Lacy's on the Kalama River; the Rocket is back; Ed and I met for some gaming and buffet in Pendleton on Veteran's Day; photos with Russell, Thursdays at Billy Macs, coffee on Hilyard Street, the Troxstar Collective: ponder, ponder, ponder. My pondering was punctuated today with text messages back and forth with Stu, doing one of our favorite things: naming old NFL players: Sammie Baugh, Amos Marsh, Milt Plum, Lem Barney, Gail Cogdill, Dick Bass, Les Josephson, Buck Pope and on and on. Each text a new laugh, another ponder.
3. And that's not all. I pondered my gratitude for this funny social networking site, Facebook, and how this group of friends who are all connected to Middleboro, Massachusetts and to the Troxstar himself said yes to letting me join in for smart talk, good music, fun stories, great pictures, wry humor, opinionated talk, and a ton of fun. I was all relaxed following my post-dinner Thanksgiving nap, getting ready to go to sleep for the night, and Becca popped up on my FB page and we chatted about family and kids and mothers and music and had a few laughs and it was a great way to close a Thanksgiving Day of gratitude and pondering.
Bonus: Dinner was really fun. Molly and I put what skill we have together and made a pork roast dinner with potatoes and gravy and stove top stuffing (that was really good!) and Brussel sprouts and topped it off with a Bailey's and saved the pie for today (well, and sampled it on Wednesday!). We had fun working together and having a very relaxed meal. We put the low back in low key and I enjoyed it a lot. (Btw, Olivia didn't enjoy it so much....she was squirmy and didn't like our food all that much..so it was a more challenging dinner for Molly than it was for me.)
Bonus 2: Pat Kenyon returned the word pondering to my life. I ponder all the time, but I didn't have the right word. Now I do. My many thanks, Pat. Hope to catch you down the road in the Silver Valley before too long.
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