The 2022 Midterms are now behind us. Some of my candidates won by very thin margins. Some lost by equally thin margins. Assuming you voted – you did vote – didn’t you? I sure hope so. Assuming you did, I figure it must be the same for you. This Thanksgiving, some political families are exuberant about keeping or starting their terms in office. Other political families are licking wounds and wondering, what now?

It is always a good time for giving thanks, but especially so now. Though there was neither a blue nor red wave, there was the opportunity to go forth from our homes to express our preferences at the ballot box. We, the people, still have the right – and the responsibility – to state our beliefs, hopes, dreams, fears, preferences, and choices.

I’ve been thinking about the concept of fallow lately. This Thanksgiving, I’m in a fallow place personally. I’m no longer in my former home in Houston. I’m not yet moved into my next home in Columbus. I am in a fallow place. Resting. Settling. Waiting. Remembering so many wonderful moments. Anticipating what the future may hold but having no way of actually knowing. It is a fallow time, and I’m exceedingly grateful for it.

My built-in computer dictionary, which I consider one of the modern miracles right up  there with ice makers, microwaves, and e-mail, defines fallow thusly: “plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation. . .long fallow periods when nothing seems to happen.”

If oak trees could speak, they would tell us that they got their strength and start from a tiny acorn buried deep in the earth. For all appearances, it seemed as though nothing was happening or ever would. But then, a tiny root goes down deeper into the earth while a splinter of a shoot reaches up for the sun. Over time, the result is the magnificent, mighty oak tree.

Thanksgiving is a good time to pause from all the frenzy that has come to define the USA political scene. Whether your candidates won or lost, the elections are over, with the exception of a few run-offs. It’s time to pause. It is a time for giving thanks and pondering all for which we can be grateful. It is a time to enjoy the people around us, the beauty of the changing seasons, the completed harvests, and opportunities to maintain and forge friendships.

There is much that needs addressing in this country. We have allowed loud, angry voices to carve us up into subgroups, like the traditional Thanksgiving turkey into white and dark meat. We are more than red or blue, urban or rural, north or south, East Coast or West Coast. Yet there remains much for which to be grateful in this red, white, and blue country. Giving thanks again is good for our mental health, our relationships with one another, and the health of our shared homeland. Giving thanks again is good for what ails us.

Less frenzy. More fallow as we wrap up the balance of this year and prepare for whatever shall come our way in the next.

Wherever, however, you observe Thanksgiving Day, I hope it includes a bit of fallow time for giving thanks again. As for me and my household, I also hope it includes turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin something.

I’m grateful for each of you who take the time to read this. Blessings on your time of giving thanks again.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is about the events leading up to our traditional Thanksgiving. There’s much more to the story than you learned in school. I’d love to speak to your book club or organization about this fascinating history. Contact me at HowWiseThen to make arrangements. Sign up to receive free weekly blogs and/or a monthly newsletter there as well. If you enjoyed this article, share it with a friend.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures covers the Pilgrim’s escape from England and their interactions with the Pokanoket people. Available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
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Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

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