Happy Thanksgiving!
Today, we will all gather around the dinner table of that brave soul who willingly volunteered to host Thanksgiving with our family and friends to give thanks for the many blessings in our lives. Feasts will overwhelm kitchens with each family’s special touch. This may pertain to cranberry sauce that is prepared beyond just shimmying it out of the can, potatoes with or without lumps or that special dessert from a family recipe with that quintessential whipped cream dollop.
Regardless of the shouting, screaming and crying (and don’t forget about the children), the varying successes and failures throughout today will perfectly define Thanksgiving for us all. But, when all the food is eaten, the dishes cleared (not yet cleaned, but cleared) and people’s adrenaline levels have subsided, then that special bonding moment can begin with either a visit to the movie theater or an in-home entertainment presentation.
From my family to yours, here’s a little insight (or appetizer if you will) to what really brings joy to our world (drum beat please!).
Don’t forget about those in-laws…
Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S. We all know the scene below is when we learned what it is in turkey that makes us drowsy:
A Leap of Craziness
There is an annual tradition at The Ohio State University for students to jump into the famed Mirror Lake during Michigan “That Team Up North Week.” This leap is usually quite cold because it takes place in mid-late November. However, Mother Nature decided to test the sheer will and bravery of the Buckeye faithful this Winter season with extra frigid winds and plenty of fresh snow to play with in ways that can only be concocted in college.
All of us can now say in unison, “I miss college!”
How many fans would make the bone-chilling leap, despite new campus restrictions requiring participants to wear a wristband…?
Was there ever a doubt? This is The Mirror Lake Leap during “That Team Up North Week.” Just as the Buckeyes will take the field on a blisteringly cold Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, the fans have once again clearly shown their dedication and solidarity with the men in scarlet and gray.
Borderline freezing weather? What borderline freezing weather?
The question of the week: What heats up a frozen Buckeye?
Kicking That Team Up North’s ___ (clearing my throat) football team.
Go Bucks!
Don’t Reach for the Horizon…Redefine It
A Departure.
Is this a genuinely fascinating word, term and concept or what? There are not only multiple levels, but infinite levels of departure one can engage in and invest their time, money and breaths. Why are there boundless levels? Because life is limitless, even when impossibility stares us in the face with its inhospitable, starry atmosphere in the space above. If there is a glow, our instincts incredibly (and sometimes dangerously) point us due north, south, east and west to horizons before unexplored or thought unattainable.
The intriguing aspect of a random, mysterious departure is the lack of assurance or guaranteed safety. But, when reflecting on the inexplicable thrills of wild and crazy adventurers of today and of past generations, there in lies the rub. Anybody can walk on the sidewalk adjacent to a busy street. However, only a few will voluntarily walk across a tightrope, high above the circus, one gentle sway away from disaster.
Uncertain reactions are at the heart of the rush. Adrenaline isn’t taught, but felt instinctively.
And whether or not you believe it, true serenity cannot be known until one has felt the stinging sensation of the wisdom that states that, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” You can thank Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for that inspiration.
Astonishingly, we are only bound to our own imaginations. Our pursuits will change, evolve and intensify. Maybe there are too many variables to make a living out of jumping out of a plane and skydiving, but hey…it sure does look like fun (well, only if there is a rocket strapped to your back).
Wonderful is what is discovered internally when such a leap is taken. Whether it is a terrifying jump or a life-altering giant step, the rewards are boundless. It’s almost as if a light’s been turned on that has been dark all these years. Perhaps you never thought you could or should turn it on in the first place.
A capacity of magnificence maximizes adventurism,
Necessary to ourselves is the thrill of that moment, when our hearts are pounding out of our chest. In those seconds when we think we must be in a cartoon with the roadrunner with an actual heart pounding in and out of our chest, there is a surreal sensation. The realization of what the distinction between being alive and living is is clearly defined. The pulse is unmistakable.
Experience, which represents the 3D lens of life, elevates everything around us to another dimension and forces a new outlook on the people, places and things we thought we knew. There is a vividness in this environment that pops and reveals almost unlike any other medium we can imagine. It contains within itself a life of its own, ready to collide with its curious spectators.
We may look to the sky and the stars or to the depths of the oceans or to the road not taken just steps away, but seeing what’s around the corner is difficult to spot unless one is willing to walk, not look.
Live, or die, in relative terms of course. This reference is for the mind, which ultimately determines what gets done and what doesn’t. Even with a harness, would you walk the tightrope on and to the unknown?
For all of us to fully experience the world on our terms that will fill our own oasis of excitement, we must be willing to react and not think for a second. Just for a second. Just once.
A journey is only ambiguous and limiting until you take it and see what your mind and imagination wanted you to see all this time.
In a couple days, don’t forget to thank your wild curiosity. It just may thank you back with something truly unforgettable and even unbelievable…that is until the moment when you can tell everybody one hell of a story.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 