A ROMANTIC SOUL AT LAST!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We were with family, eating a fabulous feast, then sitting around talking and catching up with each others' lives, and the afternoon whiled away pleasantly, some continuing to talk, others going to the nearby country club to play some tennis for a short stint, the children jumping on the trampoline or riding Nelly, the pretty blond Shetland pony, still others taking walks and watching the beautiful horses strutting up the lane--we were in Florida's horse country, and there's nothing like sitting in your yard (my sister-in-law's) and seeing grand carriages of yesteryear pulled by magnificent horseflesh--from the nearby carriage museum. Last year, one of the brothers-in-law had his flying machine and flew high above the treetops. We make quite a unique bunch.

Late in the afternoon, Milton popped in our Masterpiece Theatre DVD of Pollyanna. His sisters sprawled in front of the TV with him watching it, and everybody else in the huge great room did too. Pollyanna is a good movie to watch on Thanksgiving. This version is nearly as good as Anne of Green Gables (though not nearly as long), and the theme is being thankful--"glad," Pollyanna called it. Pollyanna's father was a mission pastor, and he'd requested a doll for Pollyanna in the mission barrel. Instead of a doll, the ladies' aid society sent a pair of crutches. She was disappointed, and he taught her a valuable lesson about being thankful (glad) in the bad or unpleasant times of our lives. "What's there to be glad about getting a pair of crutches?" she asked him. He thought a moment and said, "Well, at least you don't have to use them." She transformed a whole town with her glad game, even the preacher when he was upset at the ladies for wanting to have Sunday school on Tuesday. He was tempted to preach a vindictive sermon, and Pollyanna "preached" at him instead. She told him the words "Rejoice and be glad" were in the Bible 800 times, and if God said them that many times, then we should be glad in all things.

It's funny about my husband watching Pollyanna. He's become a romantic soul at last. He actually enjoys watching chick flicks with me. He occasionally rents or checks out from the library light love stories for us to watch together such as Pride and Prejudice and other Jane Austen stories, etc. He selects them--him, this football fanatic! And every time Ever After comes on TV, he watches it all the way through. Jennifer, our daughter, chuckled about that the other day when I was in Puerto Rico with her--how many times Milton's seen Ever After.

So if you're in a mode in your marriage where you wonder if you and your husband will ever have anything in common, take heart. There's a melding and melting of hearts as time passes, and it's refreshing.

Watching chick flicks is just one thing we've come to enjoy together. There are lots of others. We love to visit museums and historic churches, and we enjoy biking and walking together, and we love picnics, especially on the beach which is nearby, and...