Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past, Present and Future

Over the river and through the wood? Some of my childhood Thanksgivings were certainly over the river if they weren't actually through the wood. The road to T'giving dinner went west from Ames, Iowa to Walthill, Nebraska. The river crossing was between Onawa, Iowa and Decatur, Nebraska.

Thanksgiving excitement would start with piling into the family station wagon. The goal was Grandma and Grandpa Kilzer's farm. The four hour drive went through rural towns with names like Boone, Carroll and Dennison. My favorite town was Soldier. Each town had its name on the watertower. Most towns also had a grain elevator. By the time we reached Onawa, we were primed for bridge spotting. All of us kids wanted to be the first to see the shiny, erector-set-like bridge that would take us from Iowa to Nebraska. Seems like we'd drive through Macy in the dark and finally arrive at The Farm kind of late. I know we had a good time. I know we ate lots of mashed potatoes.

Thanksgiving for my children has meant driving from Reston to Springfield. The route has changed from Beltway to Fairfax County Parkway. The destination has been my cousin's house. The towns are named Herndon, Fairfax and Burke. They're marked by exit signs instead of watertowers. Nobody knows what a grain elevator is! We began the tradition with the K....y family having teen-agers and the F....s family having little kids who shared a piano bench at the dinner table. Then the K....y kids went away to college, married, had their own kids and needed to rotate attendance at the holiday meal with their in-laws. And now, the F....s kids are juggling college and in-laws.

Soon we'll add a grandchild to the mix. Suppose the younger generation will fight over the piano bench seats?

Fall Is Moving On...

The first weekend in November the people of St. Anne's head to the Virginia mountains. Some years I watch my fellow church friends go, sometimes I travel with them. For the past three years I've been lucky enough to spend a November weekend in the Blue Ridge.

Unlike the craggy mountains in the western U.S., mountains in the eastern U.S. have deceivingly gentle profiles. The long, smooth lines of their ridges flow along the skyline. This time of year the steep mountainsides display their autumn finery. The hardwood forests on the way to Shrine Mont are dressed in the deep oranges and russet reds of late fall. Gone are the bright orange, yellow and peachy colors of earlier fall. I was surprised at the glory of leaves turned almost brown. A heavy frost on Saturday morning warned of winter days to come. Fall is moving on.

The church is moving on, too. Saturday morning's frost gave way to the sights and sounds of a new season in the Episcopal church. Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori was installed to her new position in the National Cathedral. Miles from Washington, DC, the people of St. Anne's, linked to the celebration by the world wide web, marveled at the colors, gloried in the sounds, imagined the scents of the installation ceremony. During the eucharistic prayer I stood between our new presiding bishop's projected image and our St. Anne's associate rector Jackie. The two women spoke the same words, blessed wine and broke bread, prepared to share the same body and blood of our Christ. Jackie asked me to serve the chalice. The installation service continued with a Spanish language communion hymn. I was torn between singing the hymn and saying, "the blood of Christ, shed for you." We are so blessed. Our god is an awesome god.

May God keep us mindful of our family bond. May we, God's children, remember each other as the family God wants us to be. May we, God's family, gather often at the Table, respecting and loving our sisters and brothers.

LOTS of Circles!

I'm still not ready to open this blog to anyone. Eventually, there will be the circle who is invited to see it. I've been thinking a lot about my circles. I chose the title of this blog because I figured it fit so well with my life. Clearly, there are others who thought the same thing! :-) A search on "circle game" led to many circle games in the blog world. Unique? I guess not!

So, the priest at my church has started a group to explore Parker Palmer's book A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life. Wouldn't you know, it's all about circles, circles of trust. During the 5 minute meditation time I kept seeing a Venn diagram of my circles of people. I really should sit down and draw.

They're Coming Home!

It's fall break at Longwood University. That means the 21 and 22 year-olds will be home tomorrow. There has been a comfortable rhythm about the girls being at school. With both of them at Longwood, we've been lucky to deal with just one academic calendar. But this is the last fall break. They will both get their bachelor's degree in May. One of them will make a transition to the non-college world, the other will start graduate school. Neither of them will have this cherished long weekend in October. They're coming home with plans of hair appointments, pedicures and meal requests. Yes, they'll have some classwork but they'll also hit the mall, bake some cookies and tell me which movies I should watch. We'll talk about getting from fall break to the next break - Thanksgiving. Oh, my. Then, they'll pack up the sweaters that didn't go to school in August and head back to the lives they've built in Farmville. I'll enjoy the whirlwind of their visit. They're coming home!

And the Seasons They Go Round and Round

It's fall, my favorite time of year. I love the colors, the cool mornings, the warm days, the nippy nights. I love the apples, the pumpkins, the college football. Nine years spent in the tropics reminded me how I appreciate the cycle of the temperate zone seasons.

Now I find myself looking at fall as a season for my life. Because fall is my favorite season, I'm not too worried about thinking of the fall of my life as a morbid time. Hopefully, this will be a season full of harvest, a time to savor the events of spring and summer.

I'm 51, my daughters are 21, 22 and 25. There is a grandchild coming. A grandchild that will be born in the winter. Seasons, round and round, too slow, too fast. I want to stay in fall for a while.