Day of Thanks

This time last year we were sharing our first nomadic Thanksgiving with new friends we met at Amazon.com in Campbellsville, KY at a local eatery.....it was special for us, and we enjoyed spending those hours with our new friends, but we also missed sharing the traditional turkey with our kids around the family Duncan Phyfe dinning table.  When we leased our home out to begin our nomadic life we passed on this table on to the 3rd generation of Hockwald's.....to my daughter Kate specifically.  She has had the table three years now, and I have to say she is taking very good care of it!

 

Three of the beautiful women in my life....left to right: Meredith, Katharine and Sharon

Three generations of Hockwald women.....Kate's daughter, Charlise (Charlie) in the forefront

Sharon and Rod

  

The Hockwald Duncan Phyfe table now passed on to the 3rd generation

This is the dichotomy of the nomadic existence.......you have the love of the road, serendipity, adventure, new scenery, new friends on the one hand, and then you have the family you love and miss, plus your entire circle of life long friends on the other.  Finding the delicate balance between the two often pulls at our heart strings.  Those whose proclaim "you can have it all" are wrong......you can have most all of it, but not all of it......life is about choices, and trade offs.  There are consequences to every choice we make.  Of necessity, choosing to live your life as a nomad, or vagabond means you will be separated from your "sticks and bricks"  family and friends for long periods of time, and in turn means you will not see some of the life events in your kids, and grand kids lives.  We are extremely blessed in that our children have been our biggest cheerleaders as we take on this continuing adventure, but they are also quite human, and miss us terribly when we are gone.  Now that we will be spending the next 18-24 months west of the Mississippi we will be able to swing through SoCal more often, and we will be back here for sure next Christmas and New Years.  There is an old oft used expression that I have come to realize is quite true....."absence makes the heart fonder"......put another way, absence increases the intensity of feelings and emotions when you are reunited.

TLE headed over to Kate's home about mid morning while I puttered around in the trailer cleaning up the Craigslist MTB, and fixing the cyclocomputer on my mountain bike.....well, actually replacing it.  I have this orange Home Depot bucket I keep in the trailer full of all my extra bike parts, accessories, etc.  I forgot I had an extra wireless cyclocomputer in there, so I bought a new one on Ebay just the other day...just exactly like the extra one I already had......hmmmmm....I've got to go through that bucket more often, or make up an inventory....I just spent $26 I didn't need to spend.....:D

There used to be one NFL game on Thankging Day for years, and years....then there were two for many years......now there three NFL games played on Thanksging....how cool is that?  So, anyway, the entire time I'm working in the trailer I have football on in the background.

Around 2:30 we headed over to Kate's home for Thanksgiving dinner, and while the girls worked on the finishing touches of dinner we stood around talking.....you have to understand that when Hockwald's are present "talking" involves keeping up with 3, or 4 simultaneous discussions, and trying to "squeeze a word in edgewise", as my Dad would often say, when the ever so brief moment in time arises when there is an almost imperceptable lull in the conversationS. .

The dinner itself was replete with all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and the conversationS continued unabated. I spent time giving each my kids long hugs, and just enjoying having my arms around them.  I think, from my own perspective, that being away 21 months has helped me transition from seeing my kids as just "my kids" to the point where I now see them as autonomous adults.....I like that.

We headed back home around 6:30 stuffed with great food and sweet memories knowing we will have more time with them...next up....Saturday afternoon/evening with all the kids here in RJRP for dinner, a fire and another acoustical guitar session, and next weekend my son Chris and his family will come into the park for the weekend....YAY!

Thank you, and I do mean that in the most sincere manner possible, for stopping by!

P.S. - By the way if you read my "Being Thankful" post, and didn't see your name mentioned, I have edited and updated it to reflect more serendipitous encounters.  If I left you out, please let me know!