Thanksgiving in Palm Desert

The Lovely Sharon and I had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday together in Palm Desert. I had not seen her for some three weeks, so it was nice to spend time together again. I arrived in Palm Desert on Friday night and Sharon went to Nebraska on Friday to spend the 80th birthday with her father. She got back to Palm Desert on Monday night. We spent the rest of the week playing golf, going to movies and going shopping. I had not been in Palm Desert for more than five months so it was nice to see old friends again. Several times during the week as I was sweeping the patio and walks or doing something else outside, several friends drove by in cars or golf carts or walked by in the morning sun and stopped to greet me and welcome me back to the desert. It was so nice to see Palm Desert friends after months apart. The Lovely Sharon and I are indeed lucky to have two groups of friends, our Utah friends and our Palm Desert friends. There were smiles, hugs and laughs with old friends throughout the week.

On Saturday morning I ate breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, Café des Beaux Arts on El Paseo. I always have the same waitress, a French lady who always greets me with “Bon Jour”. I feel continental just by sitting at the open window, eating Eggs Benedict and reading the paper in the morning sun.

On Wednesday, the Lovely Sharon was a very luck lady, as she played golf with me, David and Ryan. All three men are lawyers. This had to be a dream come true for Sharon to spend four hours with three lawyers. Not everyone gets that opportunity. At least that is what we told her. However, I am not certain she bought into that concept.

On Thanksgiving we played golf with friends and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner at our friend Linda’s house. It was a wonderful evening. Our dinner companions were a diverse group of folks, three same sex couples, a couple of widows, a divorced lady and me and the Lovely Sharon. The diversity of this group made me think about how similar we all are despite our differences in where we come from, in our marital status, in our ages, in our religion, in our politics and in our sexual preferences. Despite these obvious differences, our similarities were more important than our differences. We were all Americans, free to pursue life, liberty and happiness. We love our families, our friends and our companions. We were gathered together to give thanks and to celebrate the blessings we each have. We all loved the turkey, the stuffing and the sweet potatoes, just as millions of folks across America do.

Being part of this interesting and diverse group of folks made me wonder why there is so much anger and hatred in this great country between groups with varying interests and leanings. Too often people have the attitude that if you don’t believe like us, not only are you wrong, you are evil. Sadly this is true for many in connection with political beliefs, religious beliefs and social and cultural beliefs. It makes me wonder why is that we have such a difficult time in allowing people to believe differently than us without hating them or without thinking they are evil. Each of us wants to love our family and our friends. Most of us want a partner with whom we can share our joy, share our sorrows and share our life. Many of us want to worship a deity in a manner that we believe is best for us but too often we criticize those who worship differently or who don’t worship at all. I am going to rededicate myself to being a better person, being more patient and more accepting of the differences of those around me.

Have a wonderful holiday season.