THANKFULLY, NO ADVERSARIES

Who Do You SPAR With?

Mother Nature is my only jousting partner, and while her challenges are many, so are the pleasures she brings. We hear of so much conflict, sickness, poverty and power struggle that I am feeling tremendously thankful there’s so little of that in my life.

Who do you SPAR with? What are you grateful for?

Thursday the 28th is Thanksgiving, a traditional family holiday in the United States and seen by some a bit differently today than what I learned as a child. Regardless of the history, being grateful feels good, so my fingers are flying across the keyboard as I remind myself about simple, oft-overlooked joys, not the first of which is that I carefully choose my companions; with the wisdom of years I spend precious time only with people I truly appreciate. The ones I spar with have been left behind.

I’m thankful to have landed in a community that has given me the most welcoming experience I have ever had. Please don’t take that sentence lightly; I’ve been to many places and lived in quite a few. Here, in the small city of Cambridge, Maryland, est. 1634, people’s backgrounds are diverse, their demeanor genuine and heartfelt. It’s a relief, frankly, because I did not choose to be here.

In particular I’m thankful to have met Sam. Samuel VanNest is a member of Choptank Writers, an interlaced, intimate, diverse and skilled group of individuals that are brave enough every week to put their work out there, to be read aloud, critiqued and commented upon. Sam stands out among them for an assortment of reasons; his ability to capture the local colloquialisms in writing, his frankly amazing vocabulary skills, and his reality. Sam’s reality is that, for twenty-three years, since age fifteen, he has fought a degenerative disease that I had never heard of until Wednesday. Long ago, it put him in a wheelchair and he is fast-approaching the high end of his projected longevity. I know these things because Sam was open enough to share them, along with the thoughts that accompany the facts.

I sat in stunned silence at the raw truth of it all, for a little while at least. And then I told him what I thought, because if he was brave enough to share, I should, too. His gift of expression is impressive and impactful, his strength in the face of adversity is easy to recognize.

A true test of character is how we handle the things that are not our choice. Every day Doctors SPAR with the mysteries of our bodies, each one unique; we wish they knew more. Sam has an unforeseen and invisible adversary. His words touched my soul, made me seriously consider my own mortality, and inspired me to be grateful for what I had.

Life flies by. I’m glad it is Mother Nature I spar with, grateful that it is not ulterior motives that drive what I do, where I do it and who I do it with. I’m always thankful for the characters I have encountered, halfway around the world and around the corner, yesterday and years ago. People who touch your soul are rare and precious indeed.

~J

Come on, just a quick word or two?!? I’d be grateful.

~Comments are public, messages come directly to me via Substack.

The elements that make these sunrises possible aren’t new, just seen with a different view.

I’m also thankful that turkeys are photogenic. And delish!