Does growing up in a small town give you a different perspective?

Growing up in Michigan, we usually had from the week before Thanksgiving  until the week after New Years off from school.  We usually had several more days off due to sleet and ice.  So I could always count on six weeks of no school.  Living next to my aunts and uncles you could find us sledding or ice skating during the day light hours.  So there was never any travel considerations to take into account.  But the older men in the family always devised some crappy tasks for us to do to ruin the holiday.  Here’s one. 

The elder men would always decide to go back into the woods and chop down trees during this time.    Crikey, we had all of summer to stockpile wood for the cold season, but no.  Off into the woods to log trees for firewood.  We had tree sleds, tractors and even ponies pulling stuff.   The men would fell a tree and buzz it up, chop it up, and the rest of us kids would have to haul it back to the house and stack it on the porch and throw it into the wood pile at Grandpa’s house.  Grandpa’s house was heated by a wood stove so he had to chop wood.  I would get cold and sweaty and there was always someone yelling at you to get out of the way.  The snow would be over your head in the drifts, but that was no matter, gut it out!

Then my Dad got the bright idea to take the tractor with the three of us boys to a new subdivision  that was being dug out down the road and buzz up all the trees they cut down.  Only problem was on the return trip there was no place for me to hitch a ride back home cause all the trailers where pilled high with wood and my two smaller brothers took the only spots on the small tractor we had.  So I got to ride behind the tractor standing on the tongue of the first trailer hanging on to the back of the tractor seat.  Needless to say, this is very dangerous and looking back pretty stupid if you ask me.  One slip and I would get run over by two log trailers and die.  But no matter, safety wasn’t invented back then so off we went. 

We were going at a pretty good clip when we hit a massive bump.  I got popped up a few feet and landed on the tongue between the tractor and the first trailer.  The tongue was round and about two inches in diameter so I had no chance of maintaining my balance.  I had only a split second to jump off or fall under the trailer and die.  With one motion I sprang sideways into the unknown hoping I would clear the side of the trailer and roll to safety.  Since you are reading this, you may surmise I made it to safety and watched as the tractor get smaller.  30 years later I dove off a motorcycle in Mexico to avoid snapping my neck during an accident and probably saved my life.

About a half mile down the road Dad must have realized I was gone as I heard the tractors sound change and it came to a screetching halt.  I ran to the tractor and he asked what happened.  I told him I lost my balance and jumped off.  He muttered something about how I could have been run over, but obviously I was wasting his time so I hopped back in to the same spot and headed home.  Again, safety was never a concern back in the day.

Later on I got a job managing the local pizza restaurant when I was in high school.  So the last two years of school I was at the restaurant during this time.  Once when all the relatives were over for the holiday, I had to leave to go to work.  My aunt, who was a teacher, was aghast that I had to go to work that evening.  Since we were the only pizza place in town, we got pretty busy.  She was quite upset that folks would order pizzas during the holiday time.  “Why the holiday was for being with family and doing family things” she exclaimed.  I guess if you are a teacher and have time off, that is a nice sentiment.  But the rest of us need to get paid.

Later on I moved away to Spokane Washington.  The first season I spent sicker than two dogs as I had moved in with my cousins who worked at the Fairchild AFB.  They would get the worst flu imaginable with all the folks from all over the world passing through.  They called it the “Fairchild Crud.”  I was so sick for Thanksgiving the first year I seriously thought that dying would be a relief. 

It was during this time when Reagan was president that they had a false alert that the USSR was attacking the US.  Later it was discovered it had been a computer error and it was downplayed by the administration.  “Oh we had a few planes in the air” they said trying to make it look like it was a non-event.  Bologna!!! I know better.  Being that Fairchild AFB was a bomber and tanker base, my cousin had the best intel.  He said that anything that could fly was in the air and that they broke all sorts of records getting them off the ground.  It was a full out jailbreak across the country!  That was a pretty exciting/scary time to be in the military.  We all used to sit around and speculate which city the Russians would bomb first.   I did get Thanksgiving dinner on the base and man was there a lot of food and was it good.  First time I had ever been to a buffet in my life and eaten out on Thanksgiving to boot.   I mean you could go up for seconds and they didn’t care!  Those folks ate pretty good despite all the hardships of being in the military during the cold war.

One thing I remember the most is how much I hated snow and ice.  Snow down your neck, in your sleeves, in your boots, freezing your hair and having to milk a cow in minus 10 degrees below zero.   I ain’t never moving back to snow country.

 I was managed a Burger King in Spokane and we closed early on Thanksgiving Eve.  I was a mere 21 years old, so I basically knew nothing about nothing.  As we got close to closing and sending the staff home, one of the teenage high school girls started to cry.  I had no clue on what to do and so one of the more ‘mothering’ high schooler’s went and sat with her.  I later found out her Mom was an alcoholic and home life was pretty rough and the girl was afraid to go home because her step dad beat her.  It was usually the worst during Thanksgiving I discovered.  So she ended up staying with one of the employees that night.  I get now why the holidays are tough on families.  Tough on single folks with no place to go and folks stranded at airports and tough on folks that drink too much.

One year I was managing a restaurant in Bellingham Wa.  In that area we had a lot of Native Americans and we had several working at our restaurant.  So we were closing up early on Thanksgiving Eve and I turned to my hostess who was acting very stand-offish during the day to wish her Happy Thanksgiving.  She was full blooded Indian and she said that her family didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. She said something about Wounded Knee and some of the treaties that her family was still unhappy with.   I am maybe 23 and I still don’t know squat about things so I decided it was best to keep my mouth shut.  I mean I learned things in high school about Indians and stuff but never thought I would come face to face with the real thing.  I guess I just naturally thought everyone celebrated Thanksgiving.  Boy was I wrong.

Thanksgiving in a recession has to be pretty tough this year.  Folks losing homes and jobs, being stressed out cause they just got pink-slipped.  The thing is most kids don’t know is how poor they are until they grow up and look back.  To them its just a fun time to be with friends a play all day.  I realize now how poor we did get one year when at Christmas I only received one toy.   

This year no Politics, no Health Care, no Cap and Trade, to worry about.  I am going to try my best to have a great day tomorrow, eat too much and enjoy being with a few friends.   Some go around the table and say what they are thankful for and for some it’s all they can do to say a few words as it has been a bleak year for most.  I have seen folks break down and cry when it was their turn and it is a tough thing to watch.  Family members have died, health issues, kids in jail, foreclosures, divorce…it’s a helluva thing for folks to try and find something good to be thankful for.  I am sure this year will be no different.  I am thankful for a few good friends I have that watch over me and make sure I don’t go to far off the beaten path.  Friends that give me good advice whether I want to hear it or not.  Friends that come over and clean my house when I am sick and do the grocery shopping when I can’t stand.  Friends that call when I need to hear a familiar voice and friends that hang out with you just because they like you.  Life does have its good moments even in the chaos.

The world can go a day without me trying to save it from itself.  My brain gets shut off at 5 pm today.  How about yours?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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