Happy Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the fall weather, the color of leaves falling like snowflakes, especially the maples which light up my back yard. I reflect on the past year of joyful family times with our the children, grandchildren and my dear dear sisters. The love and support of cherished friends that keep me fighting to look straight ahead to good days.

So, on this day, I want to share a loving story of a tom (male turkey) that came to our home late June. He hung around a few of our homes, Ingleside Service and foraged around the sign of Gavin South across the street before bed time. He learned how to cross the street; stopping vehicles and the blasting of horns did nothing to deter him from a good eating even if crossing took 10 minutes. I could watch from my front yard, worried he’d get hit, but after a while I knew he mastered it. Haha!!

At first, he would just walk from yard to yard, then we noticed he was sleeping in our large maple tree in front of our home. He would fly up on our garage roof, walk to the other side, then use our roof as a run way to fly into the tree. In the morning, he would fly down into the neighbor’s yard, and sit for hours looking at himself in the chrome of his trailer.

I will never forget the day he got his voice and started gobbling. What a total joy! Sometimes, he would gobble outside our bedroom window to let us know he was up and ready for company. He would always purr when I went out to talk to him. If his head was beet red, he would calm down and turn white. Over time, he became known as Bert.

During the cooler nights, Tom and our granddaughter Mary, would be on the back patio having a fire. At dusk, Bert would walk around, let us know he was going to bed then walk around front to make his jump. One night, we had our 11-month old grandson, Jan, with us. After Bert let us know it was bed time, he flew into the tree and gobbled. That the was first time he did that. Jan screamed back, then the gobble, then the scream. This went on for a few fun-loving minutes. We couldn’t stop laughing. Jan was so excited!

Bert would take long daily naps on our stoops, sometimes for hours. He tried to learned to play soccer with a football with a neighbor boy and loved to play chase with little Evie next door. He’d hang around Ingleside Service, walking customers to the door and back to their cars when leaving. Although there were times, he didn’t want people leaving and tried to stop their cars from leaving the parking lot. That probably was not appreciated. He could spend days there, sitting around Jerry’s antique cars because of all the chrome. Bert loved his reflection and I’m sure it helped his feel less loneliness.

No one ever tried to tame Bert, only enjoyed every day he was here. For me and Tom, being pretty much contained to our peaceful home, Bert brought us months and months of pure joy! I’d love coming home early morning from dialysis and find him sleeping at the back step.

We knew he would leave one day and did two weeks ago. I have to believe he finally joined a pack of wild turkeys in the woods across the street and will find a female mate in spring.

Remember, find joy in every day in anything you can. No matter how bad a day can be there is always a good day right around the corner. I know, I’ve been living it!

Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the pictures!

Bonnie