November 15 – “TFT and Jerry Jacket”

We went on a turkey hunt yesterday.  Braving the cold, icy rain that fell throughout the day.  Temperatures were in the 40’s.  Miserable.  Just miserable.  But the turkey hunt … No, not the kind where you take a shotgun with you.  Is it a shotgun you take when you go turkey hunting?  Maybe a bow and arrow?  We didn’t take that either.  Just a plain old credit card, hunting for plain old frozen turkeys.  Yep.  It’s that time of year again.  TFT.  Turkey Fry Time.

We managed to score all ten turkeys and the vats of frying oil we needed all at WalMart.  Best prices by far for something like this.  Chris somehow managed to find a place in our extra fridge for all ten of them, and now they have a week to thaw out in there before Chris pulls them out one by one and rubs that luscious seasoning on them.  Looks like the actual frying project will be on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  That give me a week or so to get refills on our gas tanks and make sure our big pots are clean and ready to go. 

I remembered a little personal family history anecdote that I heard at the funeral I officiated the other day.  The funeral was for a man who has lived in our neighborhood since back when I lived here the first time.  He and his wife were in the same square dance club as my Mom and Dad back in the day.  One of the tributes was made by an older guy named Wayne.  He did a really nice job.  After the service he received a hug of appreciation from another long-time Gulf Village resident who moved away after Hurricane Ike.  Now both of these folks are in their 80’s.  Their balance isn’t what it used to be, and right in mid-hug they both went crashing to the floor.  It took us a while to get them back on their feet, but thankfully both were fine.  I’m sure they were sore the next day, though. 

OK.  So I was talking with Wayne after the tumble, making sure all was well with him, since he actually hit his head on a chair on the way down.  He asked who I was, and we discovered that he knew my parents.  Then he continued from there.  Seems he not only knew Mom and Dad, but he knew my Uncle Jerry even better.  He went to school with Uncle Jerry at Kirwin High School.  And not only that, they were on the football team together.  Wayne obviously loved reminiscing about those glory days.  I didn’t even have to ask questions …

“Kirwin football.  Ah, we were really good.  But you know, that Jerry?  He was the best of all of us.  Quite an amazing athlete, he was.  And you know what we called him?  We called him ‘Jerry Jacket.’  Want to know why we called him that?  Because he wore his letterman jacket … everywhere … all the time.  Never took that thing off.”

Gotta love those family historical anecdotes.  I shudder to think what tidbits of my own life and times will be remembered enough to share at future funerals …

Romans 13:10 says, “Love does no harm to a neighbor.  Therefore love in the fulfillment of the law.”

Father, please help those two sweet people who fell at the funeral to recover quickly.  Amen.