Monday, November 26, 2012

Home for the Holidays




Or, rather, what to do when you’re not!

For those who know me well, it’s not a secret that the hardest American holiday for me to miss while living overseas is Thanksgiving.  In fact, it’s harder than all the other ones combined.  And as testament to its still non-commercial value, it hasn’t yet hopped over The Pond.

Which is to say there could be a bit of a reprieve if I could pick a restaurant nearby and have some facsimile of the Thanksgiving feast.  However, while I have seen hundreds of free-range chickens while out-n-about here in the Netherlands, I have never seen one turkey.  I don’t think the Dutch grow them.  Besides, if our microwave-sized oven is typical of most, no turkey would fit in it whole.

Dear Astrid has offered each year for us to drive to Amsterdam an hour away to eat the traditional meal at Hard Rock Café.  Bless her.  But it’s not the same, with the rest of the country working and my own family absent.

So, after resigning myself now for the third year in a row, I resort to the “second blessing”…the memories of years past with good family, good food, good fun and good…FOOTBALL.

Though I paid my dues and did my fair share, I was not one who ever gravitated to the kitchen over the holidays.  In later years my mantra was “I’ll do the dishes if you cook!”  You’d quicker see me in front of the TV with the men-folk, watching, if I was lucky, the grand finales of the college football season.

Now, skip back to when we were in Atlanta this past September.  That’s when grandson Nicholas (my dancing partner) roped Astrid into getting the house rigged up for football action at the beginning of the season. 

But here’s the thing….

We make up one heck of a football family!  When 3 of the 4 colleges/universities represented are BIG ones, you’re really talking football business.  There’s moi, a MICHIGAN grad (U of M, Go Blue).  Amy, my firstborn, is a grad of Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL, not what you’d call a football school (said with a straight face).  But she married a man who more than makes up for that as a SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (USC) grad.  And son Mark graduated from GEORGIA.  Three biggies and all from different conferences, so we can all be happy when each other wins.

Did I mention OREGON?  Nope.  That’s because it’s still a figment of Nicholas’ imagination right now.  It’s HIS favorite football school because…he likes the colors (or so he told Astrid).

Now that you know the important details, you understand why it was hard to be away from the family right now.  Did I mention good family, good food, good fun and good…FOOTBALL?

I always flip a switch, of course.  The money I would spend on a feast I give to charity.  And when I stopped to really think about it, I said to Astrid, “In spite of missing home for the holidays, look at how much I have here with you!”  For one, we drove an hour away to Antwerp, Belgium, on Black Friday and spent an overnight there to see the city.  How many in my family would have given anything to do that!

And besides, while last year Michigan finally beat Ohio State after a 7-year losing streak, sadly they lost 2 days ago in what must have been a nail-biter, 26-21.

Astrid says, “Sometimes you lose and sometimes you gain.” 

And always you have the memories…the second blessings.  I truly am thankful!




Monday, November 5, 2012

All the World's a Stage




CNN World Headquarters, Atlanta, GA

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts….

--William Shakespeare, As You Like It

If ever there’s been a stage with its players…if ever a time for exits and entrances…it’s been this 2012 American presidential election, ready to take its “final” bow tomorrow.

Fear not.  This is not a political announcement and I do NOT approve that message.

This is an announcement about the world being our stage.  Not America.  Not the UK.  Not Europe.  The WORLD.  The  w h o l e   w i d e   w o r l d.

This is an announcement about how love wins, not hate.  About how peace begins with us in our own homes and relationships.  No matter who wins the election tomorrow!

For the past 7 years I have lived in Europe part or full-time every month.  For the last 3 years it’s been full-time, while married to my Dutch wife.  It actually helps to get away to see America as others outside see it.  As Astrid and her co-workers see it.  You learn what truly is ugly.  What makes your eyes roll. 

I’m not always proud to be an American, to be honest….

BUT. 

I AM an American and have a rich heritage of freedoms many in the rest of the world can only dream of.  For one, I can vote, and I did.  My absentee ballot was mailed over a month ago, and even though it’s from a very RED state and means my vote probably doesn’t count, I had the freedom to vote.  I’d like to believe it counts on some level.  Sure, I can’t yet move back to said Red State with Astrid as my wife (or any state, for that matter, Red or Blue), but I had the freedom to leave and marry her here.  [And we can go back to visit without being stoned.]

Love wins, not hate.  And so as the stage takes on a new energy tomorrow, regardless of who wins, my heart is expanding to accept it, at all costs.  Against all odds.  If my candidate wins, will I be gracious in victory?  If my candidate loses, will I be gracious in defeat, trusting a Greater Power to stem the tide of a rearing, vitriolic head seldom seen in election years?

Talk about the gut-wrenching power of social media!  The money spent!

When the dust settles from all the lies and hate, we’ll be left with the world stage and how America will once again find her way.  I watched her stumble and lose her foothold there for awhile.  Then she started to stand tall once again.  Does she need to be #1 in the world?  I doubt it.  Does she need to be the best in everything?  She’s not!  I'm over it.  But does she need to lead by example and get her house back in order?  Oh yes, Virginia.  YES.

The choice tomorrow is America’s but the impact is on the entire world, whether we like it or not.  Will we embrace ourselves as well as the rest of the human family on earth?  Will we move forward in the spirit of solidarity?  Will we cooperate globally?  Will we Blog4Peace?  

Merely players.  Exits and entrances.  Many parts.  The grand scheme of things.  Love, not hate.  Peace, not war. 

Dona Nobis Pacem
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!

(I approve this message.)