Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving starts the time of the year when my family starts the getting together events.  I have a niece in Kansas City that loves to host large groups  in her great house and we love to go there to meet and greet the rest of the family.  Having been on the giving end of the family gatherings, I always wonder how I can re-pay her for her generosity.  That will be one of things I will work on this week.  We have discussed what wonderful treats we will bring to her house for Thanksgiving.  I know that most of the family loves green bean casserole but I hate to be so predictable. 

There was an article about Dick Cheney's family squabble over the question of same gender marriage.   I guess one daughter is trying to convince everyone that as a conservative she doesn't condone such things.  The other daughter is married to another woman.  This issue s completely bullshit.  Stand up and tell the world that someone you love is in a same gender marriage and it is not important to me.  I can say that and will also tell you that this summer I met a couple of families that are really wonderful people.  I would call them same sex couples but I really don't care what goes on in their bedroom any more that I do about the male/female marriages.  Whatever floats your boat.

I would also tell people that while I think abortion is a horrible form of birth control, I don't want the Government or anyone else poking their nose into what goes on between a woman and her doctor.  I would support what ever the law says and would not work to change it.

There was a short article in the paper about a Methodist Minister being tried by his church for performing the same gender union of his son and his new spouse.  I thought that kind of thing only happened in the Baptist Church.  Perhaps it is like the Brown vs. Board of Education case where the whole thing was just the legal wrangling to end segregation.  Heck, I think the Pope is headed towards understanding that same gender marriages are just a way of life.  OK, I know there are a lot of people out there that think they can find that in the bible there are things against the civil union of a man and man and or woman and woman.  I say phooey, the bible was written by a bunch of old guys  that never met Jesus and has more twists and changes than a pig's tail.  Man O' Man has this Thanksgiving tale gone down some different rabbit holes that where I intended.

Yesterday, I went to George Parker's funeral.  I got to meet a lot of wonderful people in George's family that I had never met.   My favorite of all of them is his son, COL Brent Parker.  He is in the Regular Army and is attending the War College in India.  He tells me that he will get his first look at the Brigadier General Board early this next year.  With his record of being the Honor Graduate of every school he attended he should have a pretty good chance.  Her has also had a good record of Joint Assignments and pretty good evaluations by General Officers of each branch.  I know that George was sure proud of his son and I wish him the best.  Brent's daughter is at Baker University and going to be a nurse.  She will be working in Topeka next semester getting her practical training out of the way. 

Last night I sang with the Barbershop Chorus.  I sang Baritone in the past and really want to be a Bass.  There seems to be a problem with the Baritones not coming to practice so the choir sounds unbalanced without a t least a couple. I will sing Baritone for the Christmas songs as I know that part for most of the songs but by the time our spring performance comes around, I will be back to Bass. We will make the rounds of the retirement homes early in December and sing for many audiences.  It is always a blast to see the joy on the faces as we harmonize.  Hope you can find something that brings you that smile on your face and in your heart.

MUD