donforrester1947 posted: " Sometimes I choose to scan the resources filed away inside my head before I get out of bed in the mornings and begin my day. The sound of Barbara Streisand singing "Memories – Light the corners of my mind" surfaced as a backdrop to my thoughts this" Carpe Diem
Sometimes I choose to scan the resources filed away inside my head before I get out of bed in the mornings and begin my day. The sound of Barbara Streisand singing "Memories – Light the corners of my mind" surfaced as a backdrop to my thoughts this morning. The lyrics are from, "The Way We Were."
The lyrics continue: "Memories – May be beautiful and yet – What's too painful to remember – We simply choose to forget – So it's the laughter – We will remember – Whenever we remember- Whenever we remember – The way we were."
Can this really be the day before Thanksgiving? This morning I remembered the first Thanksgiving that the General and I shared together as a married couple. At the time, we were living in Sylvester, TX. We married in June 1968, and a couple of months later, I was provided an opportunity to serve as pastor of the First Baptist Church. With the position came the privilege of living in the church parsonage. It was located next door to the church.
At the time, we didn't have a stick of furniture to our name. Except for furnishing the living room, we relied on garage sales and our ability to refinish furniture to bring it back to life. Fifty-five years later, I still have the first bookcase that I built.
The parsonage was actually very nice. One might even say it had a lot of charm. In reflecting back, I remember that very cold weather came early in the fall of 1968. I remember the cold because the panel-ray heater inside the house didn't work. At least, I'm remembering it as a wall heater rather than a floor furnace.
We didn't have two dimes to rub together. I remember it was after Thanksgiving that the General's dad came to the rescue and came down to fix the furnace. Until then, the only source of heat was the kitchen stove. The kitchen was in the back of the house.
Though the commute to school was about 45 miles and getting through school was a high priority, I had pastoral responsibilities including two services on Sundays and one on Wednesday evenings. Consequently, the General and I didn't head out for our first Thanksgiving until after church on Wednesday night.
I don't remember how we came to make our Thanksgiving plans, but we spent Thanksgiving that year at my maternal grandparent's home with extended family. The distance was just under 200 miles, and we drove in the darkness of night with heavy snow falling to get there.
That all seems so very long ago, but the memories associated with that first Thanksgiving as a married couple resonate with joy.
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