Mine was fine.
We often have one or more non-family members at the celebration. A couple of years ago, one of our guests was one of the Lost Boys from Sudan. His manners were very impressive.
One time we had several college baseball players from New York City. I don't think they had ever, in their lives, eaten at a table where you passed the food. They sat down in the middle of the table (actually, three tables pushed together, end to end) and never passed a thing. All the food would come to them and they would take what they wanted and just set it back down. They never passed anything on. So if you needed anything, you had to get up, take your plate down to where they were sitting, get whatever food you wanted, and go sit back down to eat. Ever since that meal, we haven't had any meals where you passed the food around. Now it is on the kitchen counter and you go there to fill your plate.
The oldest gentleman at our celebration this year is a graduate of the US Naval Academy. Afterwards we were talking and he said that the Coast Guard is probably the best service to be in and part of the reason was that they stay close to port. A cousin of mine was in the Cast Guard and spent significant periods of time far out in the ocean on a weather station ship. Once on station, they cut the propulsion power for weeks or months at a time (I'm not sure how long) and just bobbed up and down. I'd rather be on a larger Navy ship under power or in a submarine.
25 Nov 2021, 5:27 pm
