Think About It

It’s the time of year when Christmas music begans playing far too early, and turkeys are being purchased to become part of the Thanksgiving meal.

Christmas and Thanksgiving present, for me, a mixed bag of emotions, but it wasn’t always so.

When I was younger, and all the relatives upstream from me where alive, nothing but joy and expectation were associated with these holidays. Both meant the gathering of the family, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Tables laden with more food than those gathered could eat.

Along with all the food there was loud laughter, stupid jokes, hugs, kisses, pinched cheeks, and more hugs and kisses, and let’s not forget the uncle who always passed gas at just the right moment. 

As I became older, the table was still heavily laden with food, but the people around the table began to thin. It wasn’t all at once, but gradually. Over the years, the participants became fewer and fewer, and less and less food was cooked. Then, in what seemed a wink of the eye, it was over.

All my upstream relatives who made the holidays something to look forward to were gone, and gone with them were the traditions I was honored to have been part of.

Now, I am the most upstream relative in my family. Below me are my sister, sons and daughters, and grandchildren, along with nieces and cousins, and I’m grateful to have them. But, I do miss my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I miss them a lot.

I still look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I also look backwards, thankful for the memories I have, and yearning for those days to return, but I know they never will.

Yes, I know I’ll see all my upstream relatives again, but for now, I’d love to hear my grandmother sing, see my father laugh, watch my mother’s smile, and pull my Uncle Jim’s finger.

Christmas and Thanksgiving are wonderful holdiays, but I’ve learned it’s being with your family that truly make the holidays special.

Thoughts

This is a real boat, in real water. At the time I took this image, I didn’t see just how clear the water was.

You can notice the shadow of the boat on the ocean floor.

Place: Harbor, Cozumel, Mexico.

Thoughts

When I was a child phone numbers were comprised of four digits, and all phones had rotary dialers.

Long distance calls were made by dialing “0″, and giving the operator the number you wished to call.

A human being answered every phone call. And, there was this thing called a “busy signal”, which is almost unheard of today.

While the busy signal was not welcome, it let you know the person you wanted to talk to was on the phone. Not like voice mails, and answering machines, where the person you wish to talk to may be home, but is not answering the phone. Am I the only one whose said, “If you there, pick up the phone.”?

There were no answering machines, call waiting, call forwarding, nor any of the other features we have today. And yet, the world spun very nicely. Things got done. Business thrived. Teenagers talked with their friends, but not at the length they do today. Appointments were made, and Thanksgiving plans at my grandmother’s house were all arranged.

I do use the features on the modern phone, heck, I love my iPhone, but sometimes do miss the simpler life. When I was a child family was more a part of our life then technology, live communication was all there was, and life was slower paced, allowing all of us to smell the roses.

Back then, we didn’t have to stop and smell the roses, we weren’t moving that fast in the first place. 

Thoughts