Today is the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Thanksgiving can have many meanings. For some, it is the calm before the storm of Christmas shopping. For others, it is a gathering of the clan where the generations come together to share in the bounty of this great land. And for the newest citizens, it is part of becoming whatever it is that makes our nation great.
But for me, 30 years ago today, I was an undergraduate student in southern California. My school was only about six hours by plane from home but it might as well as been a 100 as I could not afford to fly there for such a short time (the school break was typically about half-a-week). So I was looking forward to staying in the empty dorm and eating whatever I could heat up in my rice cooker.
Actually, no I wasn't. There are times when life can get awfully lonely. The holidays are one of those times. At least for me, anyway. Fortunately, a guy I knew from our floor in the dorm lived in town and invited me to his family's home for the holiday. To say I was thankful would be an understatement.
Through the kindness of a relative stranger, I got to enjoy a home cooked meal in an environment that is slowly dying in America: an intact family. A family made up of both parents and their son. Living in single-family dwelling. Where each is loved and cared for and values are more than what Wal*Mart is discounting on sale.
After stuffing ourselves on a great meal, we gathered in their living room and went through an album of old photographs. The pictures were black-and-white and were very old. Some of them were of a time when the parents were themselves in college. The conversation then got around to memories of their days at Loma Linda University (or what was then known as La Sierra College) and how they were friends with some people from Hawai'i.
While I realize this is indeed a small world, sometimes I'm surprised by just how small it is. First they talked about Ross and Ree Hiatt. Mr. Hiatt (even after all these years I still call him Mr. Hiatt), was to become my 7th and 8th grade teacher in elementary school. He and Mrs. Hiatt were married for 52-years before cancer suddenly took her life this year.
They then talked about a girl that they were all friends with. As they slowly turned the pages of the album, I was taken aback when I saw her picture. Her raven hair shining in the hot California sun. The smile, a little timid, perhaps from being so far away from home herself. Her eyes looking so much like my own. The girl who would one day become my mother.
There are lots of things to be thankful for today. I am thankful for a time in which families stayed together, 'til death do us part. I am thankful for Daryl Luthas' (now pastor Luthas, who would have thunk it, rascal that he was?) parents who taught their child to be an open, caring individual. I am thankful to my own parents for making the sacrifices they made so that I could attend a quality private college and be where I am today.
Thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow. And thanks mom and dad, I couldn't have made it without you.
Aloha!
