I did....and I do.....

The countdown has begun. The 20 lb. Turkey is thawing in the fridge, the lists are made, I've doubled my sourdough starter to handle the extra baking, the house is getting fluffed and buffed (translate dusted and vacuumed), the girls new shabby chic bathroom is completed and ready to be revealed to College Boy when he gets home tomorrow (I hope the shock is not too great for his system)....Thanksgiving is here, within reach. Today, I based my Children's Sermon on a Chocolate Glazed Donut, and the old rhyme "As you go through you life, make this  your goal - Look at the Donut and not the hole." You  get the drift - don't focus on those things that you don't have, or the things that are bad or sad or make you mad...focus on the good, the blessings in your life (And boy, did I ever focus on that Donut after second service - I gobbled it down, and was Thankful, let me tell you!). In my preparation time, I thought alot about the donut theory...as it applied to Children, as it applied to the adult congregants....as it applied to me. If you boil my life down to it's very essence, there, at the center, is my family....those four people who mean more to me than life itself, and that family was started the day I met John. I was a few days late reporting to the Waterside Theatre to begin my contract. I needed to check in, to get my actors housing assignment and my rehearsal schedule. As I made my way backstage, I saw him....jet black hair, twinkling eyes, deep tan, short shorts and work boots - carrying a load of wood across the stage. I remember wondering if his first name started with "J". (A few years before, against my better judgement, I went with some friends to have our palms read, and Madame Day assured me that I would marry a man whose name started with the letter "J"). I had no rehearsals with the handsome boy, but was introduced to him a few days later at a Pizza Joint - his name did indeed start with the letter "J", and the rest, as they say, is history. Although, I was first attracted to his magnetic good looks and mischievous eyes (in all honestly, I'm sure it also had something to do with how fine he looked in those short shorts!), I soon came to know that John had the happiest heart of any person I had ever met - a balm to mine, which always seemed to beat with a lingering melancholy. 27 years have passed since that summer, and our lives together have been full...full of laughter and joy, full of sorrow and hard times. In the last four years, that happy heart of his has taken quite a beating, as life has dealt him - dealt us - blow after blow. It is a testimony to the quality of our love, that we have weathered it all....that we still laugh together, still work together for the common good of our family, still look forward to holding each other as we drift off to sleep....that we would do it all over again, given the choice. I am thankful today, for this good man...this man that can't close a cabinet door to save his life, this man that goes out of his way to help widows and children, this man who can still make me laugh, this man who no longer wears short shorts,this man that I have parented with, this man that I would share my last sip of Coke with...I am thankful that we chose each other, that we continue to choose each other - every day, for better for worse...for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health - cleaving unto each other,  just as we promised - so many years ago.