Happy Thanksgiving From Serpentor’s Lair!
Story by Mitchell Smith
2024 is rolling right along. I try and always be appreciative of what I have and what I can do with what I have. I always think of the people around my thanksgiving table. It’s not how many are around it, it’s always about who is around it. Over the years the faces have changed but I have always been here. I was thinking of the story of the singer Jewel. She grew up in Alaska dirt poor. They had no running water or modern comforts. They lived off the land hunting and gathering. She of course hit it big as a musician, but also hit some snags along the way of stardom. I have watched several interviews with Jewel including the 2023 Firing line with Margaret Hoover on PBS. She talks about everybody’s daily struggles and mental pain.
Then goes on about self awareness and embracing the pain and confronting it. I think this goes along with being Thankful and understanding that we all have struggles and if you can look across the table and the only one you see is your reflection then embrace yourself and be thankful that you are there. Peace and appreciation starts within and if you can take that inner peace and pass it along to someone else then you will truly be thankful. I grew up old school. My father was Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was very loving but he was also very hard. I remember one winter night I was around 10 or 11. My father came home one night after being at the bar. We burned wood for heat and it often was very hot in the house because there was no thermostat.
My brothers and I often slept in our tighty whities because it was so hot at times. My father got home, I would say around midnight. He did not like that there was no wood in the house for the fire. When he got home he got me and my three brothers out of bed marched us outside in a snow storm with just our underwear, no boots, no coats, no nothing. We all brought an arm load of wood into the house. That was a hard lesson, but I always appreciated learning the hard way. It really made me appreciate the comfort and good things in life. Although I have not passed these methods down to my children, I will always be thankful of those hard lessons my father taught me. Needless to say the woodpile was always filled up over my head from that day forward.
Life is never easy, life was not intended to be easy, it is our friends and family that help us get through each day and appreciate everything we have and help us be thankful for everything and everyone in our lives. I hope everyone’s day is filled with joy and lots of pie. Happy Thanksgiving all. I think it’s safe to play Christmas songs now.
