Reflections for a Sunday: Thankfulness

We all have a dance within us and our life’s journey is to find our dance and to dance it with all our hearts.

O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. ~ Psalms 107:1

There’s nothing quite like getting together with those you love over a good meal at Thanksgiving. Okay, some people (maybe a lot of people) are reading this and cringing. I can’t stand my relatives, you say. I dread Thanksgiving. I have to see my ex-wife and her new husband. Uncle so-and-so is going to get plastered as usual. Someone’s going to bring up politics and all hell will break loose.

People still haven’t recovered from being ostracized during Covid because they weren’t vaccinated. And now, we have a new way to hate each other, with Democrats vowing to cut off communication with their Republican relatives and friends.

Oh dear. How do we ever get back to those simple days of gathering together and having a delicious meal and enjoying each other’s company, despite our differences. Forever the optimist, I love Thanksgiving and see it as an opportunity to heal and forgive and move forward.

With that in mind, here’s The Rumpoles and The Barleys, a little story about thankfulness. It’s the first book I wrote and illustrated after I left my abusive marriage and moved back in with my parents in Los Angeles. My four-year-old daughter and I lived with them for about a year while I got back on my feet. It was the best experience for her especially, being in a warm and loving family home.

THE RUMPOLES AND THE BARLEYS

The Rumpole Mice live in the attic of the old Rumpole Mansion, on the edge of Dillbury Town. (You can tell I was inspired by my seven years living in England.)

All day, Papa Rumpole has been scurrying back and forth to the kitchen, collecting food for a fabulous dinner.

He has to be very careful to avoid Samuel the cat, who often pretends to be sleeping when he isn’t.

The little mice children, Eustace and Prunella are very naughty at dinner. They spill the gravy and complain about hating vegetables. So, they are sent to their rooms in disgrace.

The two rascals have no intention of staying in their rooms. They slide down the drainpipe, almost getting caught by Samuel…

and fall into a passing garbage cart. The cart leads them far into the countryside where they are dumped onto an even bigger pile of dirty, smelly stuff.

What a disaster. They’re lost! Why, oh, why did they ever run away?

Just then, they meet a jaunty country mouse, Dagwood Barley, who takes them to his family’s home, down under a Barley field. At first, Prunella refuses to go down into what she is sure will be a dark, stuffy place, but Eustace gives her a good push.

Eustace and Prunella find themselves in a cozy home, filled with noisy, happy children. Mama Rumpole makes sure they have baths and a change of clothes.

They all sit down to dinner, but not before they pray and thank God for the food. Nothing ever tasted so good to the two little truant mice.

After dinner, Papa Barley reads from the Bible and suddenly, Eustace and Prunella feel homesick and sad and so ashamed of their unthankful attitude.

Mama Barley asks them to think of things they can be thankful for, and they realize there are so many! They are especially thankful for their parents and for new friends. The Barleys take them back home in the cart, only this time it seems a grand way to travel. The two little mice manage to get up the drainpipe and into their rooms just moments before Mama comes to wake them up.

“I do hope you’ve learned your lesson,” she says.

“Oh, yes,” they answer, giving her a hug. “We have!”

And that’s a little story for this coming week. Yes, we have worries and tragedies, but there is always something we can be thankful for.

Added to that story is a lovely video of dancer Eileen Kramer who just died at the age of 109. Her advice to young people is to learn your dance.

I love this. We all have a dance within us and our life’s purpose is to find our dance and to dance it with all our hearts.

As we go into this holiday season, thinking of all the things we are being told we simply must buy in order to be happy, remember the Rumpole mice and Eileen Kramer. Real happiness, peace, fulfillment comes from being thankful for what we have, not from always wanting more.

God bless you all and have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.