As much as I’ve wanted to write a blog about re-entry into the United States after years of living outside her borders, I just haven’t been able to ignite that particular muse. While I have a lot to say about the matter, I’ve been too busy seeking employment, looking after family and recovering from an inevitable bug I managed to contract (what a funny way of saying getting sick. Surely, this is not the type of contract I’m looking for.)
Thanksgiving approaches with such rapidity; I was astonished to wake up this morning to realize it is tomorrow! Christmas decorations are everywhere and many houses already have lights dripping from gutters and shutters. I’ll miss the holidays in Vallarta, where there is no Black Friday and Christmas shopping at the worst of times might mean a 10 minute wait in line at Wal-Mart.
There is a huge banner hung on the street side of Stanford’s Restaurant advertising Black Friday Breakfast starting at 5:30 a.m. This must be for those who storm the doors at Target, which opens at 5 a.m. It’s hard for me to imagine anything so necessary or so cheap. My past experience with waiting in line for deals that are too good to be true is that they are, indeed, most likely too good to be true.
I do anticipate a family Thanksgiving. Snuggled in the foothills of the Cascades at my son’s cozy house, his wife browning the turkey, my mother visiting with her great granddaughter and the first holiday I will share with my older brother in a very long time. There will be eleven of us and we shall pray and give thanks for the well being of friends, loved ones and strangers; the benefit of shelter, jobs, love, food, central heating, church, friendship, peace, schools, and a mechanic in the family.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE
It is with dubious pleasure I share the following poem:
Black Friday
Giving their thanks with no ordinary feast
Americans from coast to coast
Shamelessly devour food enough to cause complaint,
Which quite often puts them to sleep
So they may
Store energy for the equally traditional
Black Friday shopping on the following day,
When consumers boost the country’s economy
And push the red ink over the line,
Turning it magically to black.
Doorbuster Deals to entice the post-Thanksgiving shoppers
Was not a concept taken seriously by Jdimypai Damour
Until the entrance bulged, snapped and overflowed
With eager New Yorkers
At the darkened hour of 5 a.m.
Seeking a most important supreme Christmas gift.
The blood and bones of Jdimypai Damour
Remained on the floor
Of the Wal-Mart store
As checkers scanned the treasures of holiday shoppers,
Who went back home to eat leftover turkey sandwiches
With chilled cranberry sauce,
And watch the 6’o’clock news
Of the California shootings that left
Two people dead in the aisles of Toys-R-Us,
For the sake of one sought after toy,
Giving new meaning to Loss leader.
(Based on actual events Thanksgiving 2008)
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for reading.
