Prepaying for feasting ahead

Sometimes a some mild misery provides a reminder about the blessings we have. Yesterday I got a reminder of something I'm very thankful for this and every year, and all it took was a bike ride in the morning's miserizzle (that's cold miserable drizzle).

I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Eastwood bridges, a fairly short journey from the office but not a pleasant one under the wet, freezing conditions.

After the ceremony, as I toiled along, I got four offers of a ride. To Joe Aull, Mo Fowler & Bill Anderson, Ken Yowell, and Sam Moten, thank you!

I didn't accept any of these kind offers, and I feel I owe some explanation for my strange behavior. It was not for lack of gratitude, not for love of riding in cold drizzle, not for some misbegotten self-reliant pride. No, it was because I was acutely aware of and driven by the fact that Thanksgiving loomed.

And here it is.

Thanksgiving brings the first feast of a month of feasting, the first pies and cookies of a month of pies and cookies. It's the opening day of the 2010 gobbling season, where every cook in a county filled with great cooks will be churning out delicious morsel after delicious morsel. They'll be generously sharing those morsels. We won't be able to turn around without being faced with cakes, cookies, pies, potatoes, breads, meats and other irresistible delicacies of the season.

As the Borg says: Resistance is futile.

So I don't plan to resist. The bike ride in the rain? A preemptive calorie reduction effort.

It probably wasn't all that effective, but I felt I earned a little of the indulgence I know will come. Just a slice, maybe, but it was worth it.

I'm grateful for the ride offers. I'm grateful for the generosity of the people in this county. We live on rich land and among some of the most productive farmers in the state. We make a lot of food. We have a lot of food, and we share that food.

But that means I gotta keep riding!