November 1: Turkey Month, Starting Over, Clean Slate

Welcome to turkey month.  For those of my disciples not from the United States, November is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Basically, on the fourth Thursday of the November, people cook a huge dinner of roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, a disgusting dish called greenbean casserole, yams, and pumpkin pies.  They gather with family and friends for an afternoon/evening of thanks and dysfunction.

I always find November rejuvenating for some reason.  I feel like everything's starting over, that the slate has been wiped clean, in November.  Maybe it's the upcoming holiday season.  Maybe it's the anticipation of the first (or, if you're in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, second or third) snow of the season that makes the world look fresh and clean.  Even when I stepped out of the door this morning, I had this sense of the world on the cusp of a big change.  The air was cool.  The smell of the leaves was everywhere.  And jack-o-lanterns were smashed up and down the street.

It's a time for renewal, for trying to do better.  The world, at least my small part of it, is headed into hibernation, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are on the way, times for celebration and joy.  Maybe it's like the ants in Aesop's fable of the "Grasshopper and the Ants."  Gathering time is over.  Now it's time to party.  For any grasshopper out there, winter's knocking on the door.  You better get to work or find an easy ant to shack up with.

Saint Marty likes to think of himself as an ant, ready to kick back, eat Cheetos, and watch reruns of M*A*S*H all winter.

I hear you knocking, but you can't come in