Monday, December 1, 2008

A Florida Thanksgiving

We can only hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as Reese enjoyed her first. I am told my face had about as many sweet potatoes on my chin as Reese did. Such are the privileges of being young and growing old. 75 degrees and sunny. I recommend Thanksgiving in Florida.

The meal almost started off with a major disaster. We had all seated ourselves, and Laura was finishing off filling the water glasses. She was hurrying to put the glass pitcher on the kitchen counter when she caught her foot on the leg of Reese's high chair. She fell very fast and very hard. The glass pitcher hit the Florida tile floor and shattered. I thought she had fallen face first in the broken glass. My heart stopped.

By the grace of God she arched her back instead of hitting the floor with her face. Brian, a friend joining us for dinner, rushed to her side and picked her straight up out of the glass like a rag doll. He saved her from serious injury. She had a few shards of glass in her hands, but no other cuts.

Her shoulder was not as lucky. She has been in and out of doctors' offices. No tears or broken bones, just serious sprains. She cannot handle all the Reese chores, so Dennis and I get to help care for Reese. So sorry for Laura, but hurrah for us!

Yesterday found me making a call to my sister Melodie and David (fellow motor coach owners) to check if these things can blow over. The wind was roaring, tornado warnings, and I was pretty sure we were doomed. Dennis saw the tornado warnings and just said, "Oh, great." Thus is the steady hand of our relationship.

My next question after more than an inch of rain was, "Do these things float?" They do not, but we did not need to find out. All water eventually rushed into the Atlantic, and we were saved.

Dennis had always wanted a tin roof on the Spider Lake home. He got the same effect in the downpour. I remember years in our tents on Potato Lake as kids, sitting in the tent on our air mattresses to stay out of the water coming up through the tent floor. I recommend motor coaches.

Reese has her first birthday this Saturday, then we celebrate Dennis' birthday on the 11th. Christmas decorations must wait for these December birthdays. So we decorate on the 12th. Getting in the mood to decorate for Christmas in Florida is a challenge. Us northern kids still need a little snow to get in the mood.

Unwilling to take all the traditional cold that goes along with that mood stimulus, we somehow will find a way to be festive among the palms.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have faith that next year we will have loads more to be so thankful for as our nation hopefully unites to pull out of this mess together.

No comments: